White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that $5 billion pledged by member states of the Gaza Peace Council will be directed towards the reconstruction of Gaza.
Speaking ahead of a meeting of council members in Washington on 18 February, Leavitt said more than 20 countries are expected to attend. She added that the United States would release a full list of participating nations.
“The president will be opening the meeting tomorrow with remarks and will sort of formally be chairing the meeting at the beginning before he departs for Georgia,” she said, describing the funding as a major investment in rebuilding Gaza.
Leavitt characterised the initiative as a significant step forward, saying the administration was already making progress towards what she described as an ambitious reconstruction plan. She referred to earlier discussions in Davos, where a detailed presentation outlining the vision for Gaza’s rebuilding and humanitarian efforts was delivered.
According to Leavitt, security arrangements will form a central part of the upcoming discussions. She said achieving stability on the ground is essential before broader reconstruction and development can take place.
“First, you must achieve security to get to prosperity,” she said.
The Gaza Peace Council was formed under a broader plan introduced in 2025 to co-ordinate ceasefire implementation and post-conflict reconstruction. The board was formally established during a charter-signing ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 22 January 2026, where U.S. President Donald Trump ratified the charter alongside founding members.
Partially endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803 in relation to its Gaza mandate, the council comprises around 26 founding member states, although some sources report up to 35 participants or signatories. The group includes countries from the Middle East, Asia, parts of Europe and Latin America.
Observers have noted that the council’s structure - which operates with limited formal UN oversight despite Security Council backing for certain functions - has raised questions about its institutional independence. No new official statement from the United Nations has addressed recent concerns regarding the council’s autonomy or its relationship to existing UN-led processes.
A U.S.-backed ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since October 10, halting Israel’s two-year war that has killed more than 72,000 people - mostly women and children - and injured over 171,000 others since October 2023.
Despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli forces have committed hundreds of violations through shelling and gunfire, killing 603 Palestinians and injuring 1,618 others.
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One hundred years after the First World War and more than eighty years after the devastation of the Second World War gave rise to the United Nations, humanity once again finds itself living in an age of permanent crisis.
Flights arriving at Catania airport in eastern Sicily were suspended after volcanic ash from a new eruption of Mount Etna drifted into the airspace around the airport, disrupting operations at one of Italy’s busiest aviation hubs.
For months, efforts to secure the Red Sea have focused on what is happening in the water. Naval deployments have increased, governments have expanded maritime cooperation and shipping companies have adapted to persistent security threats.
Greenland has issued a “strong warning” to a U.S. oil company linked to President Donald Trump after drilling equipment was brought ashore without the required government approvals, according to British media.
Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet other conditions.
Kazakhstan has begun building the Beineu-Saksaulsk highway, a new Middle Corridor link expected to shorten freight journeys between China and Europe by around 1,000 kilometres and reduce delivery times by up to three days.
Russia has welcomed what it describes as a shift in Georgia’s approach to the August 2008 war, praising statements that place responsibility for the conflict on former President Mikheil Saakashvili and his government.
Uzbekistan has secured preferential tariffs for fertiliser and petroleum product shipments through Kazakhstan’s Kuryk port to Georgian ports, as Uzbek cargo volumes across the Caspian continue to rise.
Police in eastern India used tear gas, batons and water cannon on Monday to disperse thousands of young protesters marching on the Jharkhand state legislature over alleged irregularities in civil service examinations.
Rising temperatures are threatening Georgia’s farms, energy supply and banking sector, with experts warning that the country has a narrow window to prepare before the economic costs grow significantly.
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