The White House announced on Friday the members of a so-called "Board of Peace" to oversee the temporary governance of Gaza, which has been under a fragile ceasefire since October.
As part of the peace plan he negotiated in the fall, Trump also named the US general overseeing special operations in the Middle East to lead the military force that will be deployed to Gaza during the campaign to rebuild it.
The names include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump is the chair of the board, according to a plan his White House unveiled in October.
Israel and Hamas signed off on Trump's plan, which says a Palestinian technocratic body will be supervised by the international board, which will supervise Gaza's governance for a transitional period.
The White House did not detail the responsibilities of each member of the "founding Executive Board." The names do not include any Palestinians. The White House said more members will be announced over the coming weeks.
The board will also include private equity executive and billionaire Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Robert Gabriel, a Trump advisor, the White House said, adding that Nickolay Mladenov, a former UN Middle East envoy, will be the high representative for Gaza.
Army Major General Jasper Jeffers, a US special operations commander, was appointed commander of the International Stabilization Force, the White House said.
A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorized the board and countries working with it to establish that force in Gaza.
The White House also named an 11-member “Gaza Executive Board” that will include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Sigrid Kaag, the United Arab Emirates minister for international cooperation, Reem Al-Hashimy, and billionaire Yakir Gabay, along with some members of the executive board.
This additional board will support Mladenov's office and the Palestinian technocratic body, whose details were announced this week, the White House said.
More than 450 Palestinians, including over 100 children, have been reported killed during the truce.
The challenges facing Trump’s peace plan will be enormous, and many details of how Gaza will be governed remain unclear. Underscoring that the plan was still very much a work in progress, the White House statement said that additional members of the committee “will be announced over the coming weeks.”
Trump’s “Board of Peace,” which he named himself the chair of, is backed by a legal United Nations mandate and had previously been expected to be composed of world leaders who would supervise the Trump administration’s plan for an “International Stabilization Force” to occupy, demilitarize, and govern Gaza during reconstruction.
The U.N. resolution authorized the Board of Peace to oversee Gaza at least until the end of 2027, while stipulating that the Palestinian enclave would be managed day to day by the panel of Palestinian technocrats, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
The Trump administration is expected to name the full panel, headed by Shaath, a former Palestinian deputy minister for planning, in the coming days.
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