Last week, US officials told The Times of Israel that Washington was aiming to announce a transition to phase two of Trump’s Gaza peace deal, as well as the members of the various bodies involved, by Christmas.
But conversations are still in their initial stages regarding phase two and Hamas’s disarmament, which Israel says is a prerequisite for the reconstruction of Gaza, in addition to the return of the last deceased hostage. The US is also yet to convince any country to join the International Stabilization Force that will be needed to replace the IDF in the eastern half of Gaza, which Israel still controls.
As the two-week deadline US officials gave to reporters on December 4 for announcing the phase two transition approaches, a reporter in the White House asks Trump when he would be announcing the makeup of the Board of Peace.
“We’ll do it early next year,” Trump responds, all but shutting down speculation that an announcement will be made earlier.
He reiterates that the board will be headed by him and made up of many world leaders who have expressed interest in joining. So far, no one has come forward.
The role of the board will be largely symbolic, as an intermediate-level executive committee filled by Trump’s top aides Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, along with former UK prime minister Tony Blair and former UN envoy to the Mideast Nikolay Mladenov, will be more directly involved in overseeing the Palestinian technocratic government which is also slated to be announced by Washington, US officials have said.
