Tony Blair attends White House meeting with Trump on postwar Gaza | Tony Blair

The former British prime minister Tony Blair has attended a White House meeting with Donald Trump to discuss plans for postwar Gaza, the Guardian understands.

After stepping down as prime minister in 2007, Blair took on the role of Middle East envoy until 2015 and spent time in Jerusalem trying to formulate a plan for a two-state solution.

The former Labour leader, 72, was in Washington DC on Wednesday for the meeting with Trump. The Axios website reported that Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser, Jared Kushner, was also in attendance.

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the US was putting together a “very comprehensive” plan for “the next day” after the war.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Witkoff said he believed the war in Gaza could be ended in the next four months. “We’re going to settle this one way or another, certainly before the end of this year,” he said.

Asked about a plan for governing postwar Gaza, Witkoff said: “It’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together on the next day that I think many people are going to … see how robust it is and how well meaning it is, and it reflects President Trump’s humanitarian motives here.”

No details have been disclosed about the proposals under discussion.

The White House said: “President Trump has been clear that he wants the war to end, and he wants peace and prosperity for everyone in the region.”

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, also met his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, in Washington.

The meetings came after Pope Leo XIV demanded that Israel stop its “collective punishment” of the population in the besieged territory.

Ten Palestinians, including two children, have died from starvation in the last 24 hours, health authorities in Gaza said on Wednesday.

At least 313 people have died from hunger, including 119 children, since the war in Gaza began and Israel intensified its siege on the Palestinian territory.

The pope said: “I beg for a permanent ceasefire to be reached, the safe entry of humanitarian aid to be facilitated and humanitarian law to be fully respected.”

He referred to international law and its “prohibition of collective punishment, indiscriminate use of force and the forced displacement of the population”.

The pope was interrupted twice by applause as he called for a ceasefire in front of thousands of people in the Vatican auditorium.

Israeli tanks rolled into the outskirts of Gaza City overnight, destroying houses and displacing residents. Tanks shelled the Ebad al-Rahman neighbourhood on the northern outskirts of the city, causing injuries, as Israeli forces sought to clear a path into Gaza City before an expected offensive.

Israeli strikes and fire killed at least 76 people throughout Gaza in the previous 24 hours, the Gaza health authorities said.