President Donald Trump has announced that he has formed a ‘Board of Peace’ to govern the Gaza Strip as the US moves into the second phase of its peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
Under the 20-point peace plan, Trump proposed a new international transitional body to oversee the redevelopment of Gaza.
Trump will head and chair the board alongside other world leaders, including Nickolay Mladenov, the former UN Middle East envoy, who is expected to serve as liaison between the board and new Palestinian-run National Committee for Administration of Gaza (NCAG).
It remains unclear who else may sit on the board, but the Times of Israel reported last month that the US has claimed it secured commitments from Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany to have their leaders join the board.
Trump was personally involved in selecting who would receive an invitation to join the panel, a US official said, adding that invitations were sent out on Wednesday to ‘a lot of countries’ and that ‘there has been a very overwhelming response.’
The other members of the board ‘will be announced shortly,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Thursday.
‘But I can say with certainty that it is the greatest and most prestigious board ever assembled at any time, any place.’
The Trump administration is now reportedly planning to hold the first meeting of the Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.
President Donald Trump has announced that he has successfully formed a ‘Board of Peace’ to govern the Gaza Strip
The US president made the announcement on his Truth Social page on Thursday
The second phase of the peace plan will also be the ‘full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel,’ Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said in a post on Wednesday.
Hamas, which refuses to lay down its weapons, agreed in October to hand over governance to the technocratic committee.
It remains unclear how Hamas, which has regrouped since a fragile ceasefire began in October, will be disarmed as required by the plan.
But in his post, Witkoff said the US expects Hamas to ‘comply fully,’ including by immediately returning the final deceased Israeli hostage, who has been identified as Ran Gvili.
‘Failure to do so will bring serious consequences,’ warned Witkoff, who helped iron out the deal alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
President Trump later reiterated the message on his Truth Social page.
‘Hamas must IMMEDIATELY honor its commitments, including the return of the final body to Israel and proceed without delay to full Demilitarization,’ he wrote.
‘As I have said before, they can do this the easy way or the hard way. The people of Gaza have suffered long enough. The time is NOW.’
But Washington will also work to bridge the differences between Israel and Hamas, the US official briefing reporters said, noting that the Israelis ‘remain skeptical that Hamas will disarm and that the Palestinian people want peace.’
‘The goal here is to create the alternative to Hamas that wants that peace, figure out how to empower them,’ the official said, referring to the new committee of Palestinian technocrats as a new ‘government’ for Gaza.
‘And obviously, now that we have this government, we will be engaging in conversations: with Hamas on the next phase, which is demilitarization; with Israel, on what amnesty program can be given to Hamas if they do this.’
On Wednesday, US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff announced that the US is moving into the second phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan between Israel and Hamas
Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with leaders on both sides to iron out the ceasefire deal
The Palestinian body will have 15 members and will be led by Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority who had been in charge of developing industrial zones, according to a joint statement by mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
It will also include the head of the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, Ayed Abu Ramadan, and Omar Shamali, who has worked for the Palestine Telecommunications Company, Paltel, Palestinian sources said.
They said the list would further include Sami Nasman, a retired senior Palestinian Authority security officer and a longtime critic of Hamas. Nasman, a member of Abbas’s Fatah movement, is originally from Gaza but has since 2007 been living in the West Bank.
The committee will now be responsible for handling Gaza’s day-to-day management, including sanitation, infrastructure and education.
Both Hamas and the Palestinian National Authority, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, have endorsed the list of technocratic committee members, Egyptian and Palestinian sources said.
In a radio interview, Shaath said that the committee would focus first on providing urgent relief for Gaza, including the provision of housing for displaced Palestinians, many of whom are living in makeshift tent shelters amid the rubble.
‘If I bring bulldozers and push the rubble into the sea, and make new islands, new land, I can win new land for Gaza and at the same time clear the rubble. This won’t take more than three years,’ Shaath told a West Bank radio station.
A 2025 UN report, however, found that rebuilding Gaza’s shattered homes could drag on for many decades.
In a radio interview, Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, said that a new Palestinian committee would focus primarily on providing urgent relief for Gaza, including the provision of housing for displaced Palestinians, many of whom are living in makeshift tent shelters amid the rubble
A 2025 UN report found that rebuilding Gaza’s shattered homes could drag on for decades
In the meantime, Hamas leaders and other Palestinian factions are meeting in Cairo to discuss the second phase of the peace plan as members of the technocratic Palestinian committee meet with Mladenov.
Egyptian sources said the talks with Hamas will now focus on the group’s disarmament.
Further Israeli withdrawals within Gaza are tied to disarmament, though Hamas has said it will give up its weapons only once there is a Palestinian state amid ongoing Israeli air strikes in the region.
Yet leaders on both sides seem optimistic.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem called the announcement on the second phase of the plan an ‘important positive development’ and said they are ‘fully prepared to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip’ to the NCAG.
He added, though, that they demand the US ‘compel’ Israel to ‘fulfill the requirements of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement and move towards the second phase.’
Similarly, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday the return of Gvili ‘is a top priority.’
‘Hamas is required to meet the terms of the agreement to exert 100 percent effort for the return of the fallen hostages, down to the very last one, Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel,’ the prime minister’s office posted on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas must meet the terms of the ceasefire deal and ‘exert 100 percent effort’ to return the fallen hostages
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority welcomed Trump’s effort to move ahead with the Gaza phased plan, in a statement posted on X by Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al-Sheikh, and voiced support for the committee.
Sheikh said institutions in Gaza should be linked to those run by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, ‘upholding the principle of one system, one law and one legitimate weapon.’
Representatives from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar also released a joint statement saying they ‘welcome the formation’ of the NCAG, which they said is an ‘important development that will contribute to strengthening efforts aimed at consolidating stability and improving the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.’
