TEL AVIV — President Donald Trump named the first members of his “Board of Peace” executive committee to rebuild and revive the devastated Gaza Strip, but the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the announcement “was not coordinated with Israel” and “runs contrary to its policy.”
The initial members include Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and former British prime minister Tony Blair, the White House said in a statementFriday.
Also announced were the members of a secondary operational committee known as the Gaza Executive Board. The board will also include Kushner, Witkoff and Blair, but also Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali al-Thawadi — leaders from nations that Israel argues will work to ensure Hamas’ survival.
“Bringing Qatar and Turkey into the Gaza Strip is a reward to Hamas for the October 7th massacre and a danger to Israel’s security,” former Israeli prime minister Neftali Bennett said Saturday. “This government of chaos has abdicated Israel’s sovereignty.”
Hamas-led fighters killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took another 250 back to the enclave as hostages, Israeli officials say. Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed more than 71,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Trump is to chair the panel. Each member is to oversee a different aspect of the project, such as reconstruction, attracting investment and regional relations, the White House said.
“Let’s all dream together to make more unthinkable outcomes reality,” Kushner, who has long floated an idea of promoting waterfront real estate in Gaza, wroteFriday on X.
Netanyahu’s office said late Saturday that “the announcement regarding the composition of Gaza’s executive committee, which is subordinate to the board of peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy.” In a statement, the office said Netanyahu “has instructed the Foreign Minister to raise this matter with the U.S. Secretary of State.”
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right minister of national security, called “on the Prime Minister to order the IDF to prepare to return to war with tremendous force in the Strip, in order to achieve the main goal of the war: the destruction of Hamas.”
The announcement did not address the major stumbling block to Trump’s multistep plan for Gaza: The requirement that Israel withdraw its troops and Hamas give up its weapons before reconstruction begins.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the announcement, which he said would give influence in Gaza to Qatar and Turkey, amounted to “a total diplomatic failure by the Netanyahu government, following the infinite heroism and sacrifice of the IDF’s soldiers and commanders.”
Blair, whose involvement has caused consternationamong Palestinians, thanked Trump for his “leadership.”
“We want a Gaza which does not reconstruct Gaza as it was but as it could and should be,” he said in a statement Saturday. “And for the Israelis we want to ensure that the horrific events of October 7 2023 are never repeated.”
Argentine President Javier Milei said Saturday he had received an invitation to become a founding member of the board; Egypt’s foreign minister said President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi had was considering an invitation. The Turkish state news outlet Anadolu saidPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan had also received an invitation.
Ziad Amr, a political activist in Ramallah, in the West Bank, said Palestinians view the Board of Peace as a vehicle “to entrench policies and practices that deny the Palestinian people their political rights, foremost among them the right to self-determination and the establishment of a fully sovereign, independent state.”
As the board was being pieced together this week, the Hamas-run media office in Gaza said Israel had violated the ceasefire brokered by Trump in October by shooting civilians, launching raids and preventing the entry of humanitarian aid as wintry weather sets in. More than 460 people have been killed in Gaza during the ceasefire and 1,275 injured, the Hamas-run health ministry said Saturday.
Israel says Hamas has violated the ceasefire by refusing to return the remains of the last hostage and attacking Israeli soldiers when it is supposed to be disarming.
The Board of Peace is part of Phase 2 of Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, which has seen a fragile ceasefire since October.
“I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place,” Trump wroteon Truth Social this week. In a separate posthe underscored: “The people of Gaza have suffered long enough. The time is NOW. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.”
A National Committee for the Administration of Gaza will be tasked with implementing Trump’s peace plan, stability and reconstruction, the White House said.
This will be led by Ali Abdel Hamid Shaath a civil engineer from Gaza who has held senior roles in the Palestinian Authority governing the West Bank, the White House said. He’ll oversee the restoration of core public services, the rebuilding of civil institutions, and the stabilization of daily life
That committee will be supported by a Gaza Executive Board, the White House said. The board will again include Kushner, Witkoff and Blair, and also Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; the Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; Reem Al-Hashimy, the and United Arab Emirates minister for international cooperation, and Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Yakir Gabay.
Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, a former U.N. envoy to the Middle East peace process, will serve as High Representative for Gaza, the White House said. Aryeh Lightstone, head of the Abraham Accord Peace Institute, and Josh Gruenbaum, a commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, have been appointed senior advisers and will lead day-to-day strategy and operations. World Bank President Ajay Banga, deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel and billionaire private equity chief Marc Rowan have been appointed to the executive board. No Palestinians have yet been named to the committee.
Security in Gaza is to be provided by an International Stabilization Force under the command of U.S. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, the White House said. No country has publicly committed forces to participate.
More board members are to be announced in the coming weeks, the White House said.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the U.N. Office for Project Services, told reporters Thursday that the needs in Gaza are urgent.
“We can’t wait for the big reconstruction, which requires billions, to immediately launch the early recovery that requires millions,” da Silva said. He listed three immediate priorities: access to a stable supply of fuel, support for demining and the clearance of some 60 million tonnes of rubble and repairs to Gaza’s main power plant, which provided between 40 and 50 percent of electricity before the war.
Siham Shamalakh reported from Cairo. Steve Hendrix, Karen DeYoung, Suzy Haidamous, Claire Parker, Louisa Loveluck, Heba Farouk Mahfouz and Lior Soroka contributed to this report.
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