The White House released names of some leaders involved in overseeing next steps in Gaza after a Palestinian committee set to govern the territory under U.S. supervision met for the first time Friday in Cairo, the Associated Press reported.
The committee’s leader, Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, pledged to get to work quickly to improve conditions. Shaath said the committee expects reconstruction and recovery to take about three years, and that it plans to focus first on immediate needs including shelter.
Shaath made the comments after the meeting in a television interview with Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News. “The Palestinian people were looking forward to this committee, its establishment and its work to rescue them,” he said.
The announcement also described U.S. President Donald Trump as supporting the group’s efforts to govern Gaza after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas. It said Israeli troops withdrew from parts of Gaza after the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, and that thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to what is left of their homes.
In looking ahead, the AP report described major hurdles, including plans for an international security force to supervise the ceasefire deal and a difficult process of disarming Hamas. Under Trump’s plan, Shaath’s technocratic committee would run day-to-day affairs in Gaza under the oversight of a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” with members not yet named.
The White House said an executive board would work to carry out the vision of the Board of Peace. Its members include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel. Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and U.N. Mideast envoy, is to serve as the executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters.
The White House also announced a separate “Gaza Executive Board,” which would work with Mladenov, the technocratic committee and the international stabilization force. Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan and Mladenov will sit on that board, along with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi, Hassan Rashad of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency, Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy, Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay and Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Middle East expert.
In the West Bank, friends and relatives gathered Friday to mourn the death of a 14-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli forces, according to the AP report. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of Mohammad Na’san and said he was the first child killed by the army in the occupied West Bank in 2026.
Residents said Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas in an attack they described as unprovoked. Israel’s military said in a statement that the incursion came after Palestinians hurled rocks at Israelis and set tires aflame.
Ameen Abu Aliya, head of the Al-Mughayyir village council, described the circumstances in a quote to the AP, saying there was “gunfire directed at citizens and farmers” and that the streets were crowded with “the elderly, children, women, and elders” as firing began “relentlessly” during the storming of the village as people were leaving the mosques.
The AP report said the death was the latest episode of violence to hit al-Mughayyir, a village east of Ramallah where much of the agricultural land falls under Israeli military control. It added that earlier this year settlers and Israeli military bulldozers destroyed olive groves there after saying they were searching for Palestinian gunmen, and that a children’s park in the village was also demolished.
The report cited United Nations figures saying that in 2025, 240 Palestinians—including 55 children—were killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank, while Palestinians killed 17 Israelis—including one child—in the region. It also reported that two children were killed Friday in Gaza: a 7-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy in Beith Lahiya near the Yellow Line. The hospital said their bodies were taken to al-Shifa Hospital, and no further details were immediately available.