The first meeting of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace tested early whether one of his marquee foreign-policy initiatives can build broad support and help move a shaky Gaza ceasefire forward. At Thursday’s gathering, members pledged $7 billion for Gaza aid while laying out intentions for international troops and policing arrangements and for reconstruction planning, but they did not provide a timeline for when those efforts would begin or how quickly they would take effect.
The meeting also spotlighted why the board’s agenda faces an immediate challenge: while the ceasefire has halted major military operations and increased aid deliveries, Palestinians in Gaza have still faced near-daily strikes that Israel says target militants. Hamas has not disarmed, and a Palestinian committee intended to take over from Hamas has stalled in neighboring Egypt, leaving implementation of the broader political transition uncertain.
Ahead of the meeting, Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine Project Director at the International Crisis Group, said the board’s credibility would quickly erode if it did not deliver “fast, tangible improvements on the ground — and particularly on the humanitarian front.” His warning underscored the gap between pledges and the pace at which civilians can see relief.
At least two dozen nations joined as founding members of the board, including Israel and other regional heavyweights, along with countries outside the Middle East that support Trump or hope to gain favor with his administration. More than a dozen additional countries, including Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, participated as observers rather than joining as founding members.
Even as governments signed on, the board immediately drew skepticism from both sides of the conflict. Israelis were suspicious of the involvement of Qatar and Turkey, which have longstanding relations with Hamas. Palestinians objected because their representatives were not invited to the board, despite the board’s interest in the future of a territory home to some 2 million people.
Trump also used the meeting to address concerns that the board could displace the United Nations. He said, “Someday I won’t be here. The United Nations will be,” and added that he expects the board to be “much stronger” and “almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”
The board’s plans for Gaza are tied to reconstruction and security concepts outlined by Trump, along with Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff. In recent remarks, Kushner suggested in Davos that reconstruction could be completed in about three years, even as U.N. forecasts indicate rubble clearing and demining could take much longer. On Thursday, Trump announced pledged aid from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait, and said the United States would pledge $10 billion toward the board—money that would require congressional authorization.
Reconstruction cost estimates remain a major reference point for the scale of the task. A joint estimate by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank put the cost of reconstruction at about $70 billion, far above the $7 billion pledged at the meeting. Israel’s position for reconstruction has also remained conditional on Hamas disarmament, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying there would be no reconstruction until Hamas disarms.
The ceasefire agreement itself has narrowed the fighting but left key questions unresolved, including how disarmament would proceed and what Israel’s withdrawal would look like once international forces deploy. Under the deal, Hamas would hand over weapons and Israeli forces would withdraw as an international force enters, but it also set no timeline. The agreement’s implementation disputes have persisted: Israel and the United States have said Hamas disarmament is key, while Arab and Muslim board members have accused Israel of undermining the ceasefire through daily strikes and have urged the U.S. to rein in its ally.
Israel has defined demilitarization as extending from heavy weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades down to about 60,000 rifles that Netanyahu said would have to be given up. Hamas, by contrast, has made only vague or conditional commitments to disarm as part of a process toward a Palestinian state, with senior Hamas officials saying their security forces need to retain some weapons to maintain law and order during the transition. Negotiators have discussed options such as “freezing” arms in sealed depots under outside supervision, or handing over heavy weapons while keeping some handguns for policing, according to two regional officials involved in negotiations who requested anonymity.
In addition to aid and reconstruction, the ceasefire deal envisions a temporary International Stabilization Force drawn from soldiers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries. The plans’ details were not set out exhaustively, but officials described a mandate that would include securing aid deliveries, preventing weapons smuggling and vetting and training a Palestinian police force. Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, who is leading the effort, said Thursday the plans call for 12,000 police and 20,000 soldiers for Gaza.
The board meeting also put emphasis on where early force deployment would occur and what comes next for governance in Gaza. Troops are expected to initially deploy to Rafah, a heavily damaged city largely depopulated under full Israeli control, where the U.S. administration hopes to focus reconstruction efforts first. Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is to hand over power to a transitional committee of politically independent Palestinian administrators, and the U.S. has named a 15-member committee and tapped former U.N. envoy Nickolay Mladenov to oversee the process as the board’s envoy to Gaza.
The transitional committee, led by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath, has not yet been granted Israeli permission to enter Gaza from Egypt, and Israel has not commented on the matter. Mladenov said last week that the committee would be unable to work unless Hamas hands over power and ceasefire violations stop, adding, “We’re only embarrassing the committee and ultimately making it ineffective,” and that “All of this needs to move very fast.”