Who Is Yakir Gabay, the Israeli Billionaire Named to Trump's Gaza Executive Council - Gaza
Architects of the hostage-release deal and cease-fire with Hamas made repeated visits to the Middle East in October. During those trips, Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump and one of his closest confidants, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, visited the Pereh restaurant on Tel Aviv's Nahalat Binyamin Street with members of their entourage.
People present during the visits said Kushner and Witkoff posed for photos with anyone who asked. Their entourage also included Israeli billionaire Yakir Gabay, who joined them for some of the meals at Pereh. Unlike the Americans, Gabay preferred to keep a low profile inside the restaurant and stay away from the cameras.
Over the weekend, Gabay was appointed by Trump to a newly formed body called the "Gaza Executive Committee," which will serve as the executive arm of a broader "Board of Peace."
The body will oversee the technocratic Palestinian committee for governing Gaza announced last week, as part of the transition to phase two of Trump's plan to end the war in the Strip. Gabay is expected to take an active role in shaping governance frameworks, economic development plans and coordination with international organizations.
Gabay is active in global investments in real estate, hospitality and high tech, including through private investment funds. He divides his time between Israel, Miami, London and Cyprus, and has maintained close personal and business ties with Kushner for more than a decade, dating back to before Trump's first election in late 2015.
"Kushner and Gabay have very high mutual regard and consult with one another on an ongoing basis," a source familiar with the matter said, noting that Kushner and his family are themselves deeply involved in large-scale real estate ventures in the U.S. and abroad.
Haaretz Weekly
'Birthright is tone-deaf': Why many young Jews don't want their free trip to Israel
According to a White House statement, the Gaza Executive Committee will also include Nikolay Mladenov, the former UN envoy to the Middle East peace process, who will serve as the committee's "high representative," and Dutch diplomat Sigrid Kaag, a former UN Middle East envoy and the UN's senior coordinator for Gaza reconstruction and humanitarian efforts.
Other members include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Qatari official Ali al-Thawadi, Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, and UAE minister in the Foreign Ministry Reem Al Hashimy. The council will also include Witkoff, Kushner, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and American Jewish billionaire Marc Rowan.
In a statement following his appointment, Gabay said: "It is a great honor to be appointed by President Trump as a voluntary member of the Board of Peace for Gaza. I thank the president, Witkoff and Kushner for the trust they have placed in me."
Gabay said he intends to work with other board members to advance Trump's vision of "development, construction, prosperity and a free economy" in Gaza, alongside the expansion of the Abraham Accords to additional countries. He added that "the complete disarmament of Hamas is a precondition for implementing the development plan," and said efforts would continue to return Israeli hostage Ran Gvili for burial in Israel.
'I do not plan to build in Gaza'
About four years ago, Gabay, whose fortune is estimated at several billion dollars, considered returning to live in Israel with his family. Those plans were shelved amid the judicial overhaul advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the war that began in October 2023.
Gabay visits Israel frequently and operates behind the scenes on issues related to the country. According to U.S. media reports, he was part of a group of billionaires who sought to influence American discourse on Israel during the early stages of the Gaza war, including attempts to pressure Columbia University in New York amid protests against the fighting.
In recent years, Gabay has met Trump several times and has shared his views with Kushner and other senior U.S. figures regarding Gaza's future after the war.
"Joining a project of this scale in Gaza, expected to span about 10 years, will require a significant personal time commitment," Gabay told associates after his appointment. "But when such an offer comes from a U.S. president, it cannot be refused."
He stressed that he does not intend to pursue personal business interests in Gaza. "I do not plan to build hotels or real estate projects there," he said, adding that he hopes to contribute his experience to advancing economic development and tourism in the Gaza area. "I would welcome investors from around the world coming to build in Gaza – but all of this depends on Hamas being disarmed."
Gabay is expected to travel next week to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, alongside Trump, Kushner, Witkoff and other figures involved in plans for Gaza's reconstruction.
From the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to a European real estate empire
Gabay, who is set to turn 60, is considered one of Israel's most prominent global business success stories. Born in Jerusalem's Talbiya neighborhood, he is the youngest of three brothers in a prominent family. His father, Meir Gabay, served as director general of the Justice Ministry from 1976 to 1987 and later as civil service commissioner and a senior UN official. His mother held a senior position in the State Prosecutor's Office.
Since the age of 11, Gabay has lived with chronic arthritis, a condition that led to his exemption from military service but did not halt his professional trajectory. He studied accounting and economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem while working at the Israel Securities Authority, where he completed his accounting internship.
After serving as CEO of the underwriting arm of Leumi & Partners, Bank Leumi's investment subsidiary, Gabay moved into entrepreneurship and financial brokerage. Beginning in 2003, he built a major real estate presence in Europe through Aroundtown, which holds assets valued at about €30 billion ($32.5 billion) across Germany and the United Kingdom, primarily in residential and hospitality properties.
In 2019, at the height of Europe's low-interest-rate environment, Gabay sold significant stakes in Aroundtown and led its merger with German real estate firm TLG Immobilien. Overall, he sold about 20 percent of Aroundtown for roughly €2 billion ($2.17 billion) and collected hundreds of millions of euros in dividends over the years.
About two years ago, Gabay became embroiled in a business dispute over Aroundtown's operation of the marina and port of Larnaca in Cyprus, a site that later served, among other purposes, as a transit point for humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Cypriot government subsequently halted the port's operations and froze planned future investments by Kition Ocean Holdings, an Aroundtown-controlled company that had intended to invest more than €1 billion ($1.08 billion) in upgrades.
According to reports in Cyprus, the decision followed legal advice and stemmed from Kition's refusal to renew a required financial guarantee for the port, which the government viewed as a material breach of contract. The move reportedly led to a breakdown in relations between the parties.
Today, Gabay serves as vice chair of Aroundtown's board and holds about 15 percent of the company, which is traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at a valuation of about €4 billion ($4.3 billion), roughly 60 percent below its net asset value.
In recent years, Gabay has shifted the focus of his real estate investments to the United States through Yellowstone Real Estate, owned by the Gabay family trusts. The firm holds assets worth several billion dollars and has partnered with Israeli institutional investors in hotel and real estate acquisitions in Miami and elsewhere, capitalizing on market opportunities created by the U.S. Federal Reserve's recent interest-rate cycle.