Speaking as the Board of Peace convened on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had “agreed with our ally the US there will be no reconstruction of Gaza before the demilitarisation of Gaza”.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 72,000 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The enclave’s economy is in ruins, with its buildings and infrastructure largely destroyed. The UN estimates the cost of damage at $70bn.

Countries including the UK, Canada, France and Germany have refused to join the Board of Peace that came into being last month.

In an effort to address concerns that the organisation was meant as a way of sidelining the UN, Trump told the board’s first meeting in Washington that “we’re going to be working with the United Nations very closely, we’re going to bring them back”.

Gaza, the US president said, was “no longer a hotbed of radicalism and terror”.

“And to end that, we have today, and I’m pleased to announce that Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait have all contributed more than $7bn toward the relief package”.

“Every dollar spent is an investment in stability,” he said, adding that the UN would contribute $2bn for humanitarian assistance, while football body Fifa would raise $75m for soccer-related projects in the Strip.

Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician who has been given the title of high representative for Gaza as part of the board, said the process of recruiting a new transitional Palestinian police force had begun and “just in the first few hours we have 2,000 people who have applied”.

But both Israel and the US have insisted that the force is not drawn from the existing Hamas-controlled police without stringent vetting, nor do they want it simply made up of the security forces of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

That means starting from scratch, and the task is daunting.

Mladenov has previously said the Palestinian police force must be the primary security agency in Gaza, assisted by the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), and not vice-versa.

According to the US plan, the ISF will work with Israel and Egypt, along with a newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to help secure border areas and ensure the process of permanently disarming non-state armed groups, including Hamas.

But Mladenov said there is little evidence such a force could yet oversee the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Meanwhile, there was no indication at the meeting that Hamas was prepared to hand over its weapons, despite Trump’s combination of optimism and threat on this point.

So far, Hamas has publicly appeared to make handing over weapons contingent on – at least – Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Progress on this issue is critical because none of Trump’s proposals for reconstruction and governance can take place without a security force on the ground that has broad backing of the Palestinian population, given its role includes assuming a monopoly of force within Gaza.

The Washington meeting itself was characteristic of Trump’s approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace-making over his two terms – involving a future for Palestinians seen often through the lens of real-estate development and wealthy investor funding.

Meanwhile Israel’s leadership has been wary about some of Trump’s efforts, particularly the invitations to his board for Turkey and Qatar, whom Israel does not want to see take a prominent role in decisions on the future of Gaza.

Trump and his team have defended his unconventional approach saying it amounts to “new thinking” to try to solve the conflict.

However, Mladenov has warned that without rapid progress, Gaza will remain split into two territories, one under continuing Israeli occupation and the other under Hamas control – and also split from the West Bank, making a future independent state unviable and failing to secure either Palestinians or Israelis.

[BBC]

In his remarks, Trump noted that Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, had “some very good meetings” with Iran.

“It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran,” he said. “Otherwise bad things happen.”

One day earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that Iran would be “very wise” to make a deal with the US, adding that Trump was still hoping for a diplomatic solution over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

When Trump first announced the Board of Peace, it was thought to be aimed at helping end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and oversee reconstruction.

But in the last month its mission has appeared to go beyond one conflict, with many wondering if the Trump-chaired board, made up of about two dozen countries, is meant to sideline the United Nations.

US missile and aircraft struck three Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year, and the White House was reportedly discussing new attack options this week.

American forces have been ramping up their presence in the region in recent weeks, including the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.

However, the BBC understands that the British government has not given permission for the US to use UK military bases to support any potential strikes on Iran.

In previous military operations in the Middle East, the US used RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, and the UK overseas territory of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean.

Satellite images have also shown that Iran has reinforced military facilities, and the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, has posted messages to social media threatening US forces.

“The US President constantly says that the US has sent a warship toward Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware,” one of Khamenei’s posts read.

“However, more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea.”

Several members of US Congress have expressed opposition to any military action against Iran.

California Democrat Ro Khanna and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie have said they will try to force a vote on the matter next week, citing the 1973 War Powers Act.

The act grants Congress the ability to check the president’s power to commit the US to armed conflict.

“A war with Iran would be catastrophic,” Khanna posted on social media. “Iran is a complex society of 90 million people with significant air defences and military capabilities.”

He also said thousands of US troops in the region “could be at risk of retaliation”.

The chances of passage in both chambers of Congress are not strong.

In January, Senate Republicans blocked a similar war powers resolution that would have required the Trump administration to obtain congressional approval before launching further military operations in Venezuela following the capture of Nicolas Maduro.

[BBC]