Leaders from several countries have received invitations to join a so-called U.S.-led ‘Board of Peace’, an initiative that would initially aim to end the conflict in Gaza before expanding to address other global disputes, diplomats said on Saturday.
The White House on Friday announced some members of the board, which would oversee Gaza’s temporary governance under a fragile ceasefire in place since October, before continuing its work elsewhere.
Those named include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump will chair the board, according to a plan unveiled in October.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off on the proposal, which envisages Gaza being governed during a transitional period by a Palestinian technocratic administration overseen by an international board.
"It’s going to, in my opinion, start with Gaza and then do conflicts as they arise," Trump told Reuters in an interview earlier this week.
"Other countries that are going to war with each other," he added when asked about the board’s objectives.
The White House said the responsibilities of individual board members had not yet been detailed and confirmed that no Palestinians had been named. Officials said additional members would be announced in the coming weeks.
The administration also named a separate 11-member "Gaza Executive Board" to support the technocratic body.
It includes Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, UN Middle East peace coordinator Sigrid Kaag, United Arab Emirates international cooperation minister Reem Al-Hashimy and Israeli-Cypriot businessman Yakir Gabay.
However, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the composition of the Gaza Executive Board had not been coordinated with Israel and contradicted its policy, in an apparent reference to Turkey’s inclusion.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.
The plan has drawn criticism from rights experts and advocates, who say a U.S.-led board overseeing governance of a foreign territory resembles a colonial structure.
Blair’s involvement has also been criticised because of his role in the Iraq war and the history of British imperialism in the Middle East.
Four sources said the leaders of France, Germany, Australia and Canada were among those invited to sit on the Board of Peace.
The offices of the Egyptian and Turkish presidents confirmed they had received invitations, while a European Union official said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had been invited to represent the EU.
Two diplomatic sources said the invitation letter included a "charter", described by one diplomat as a "Trump United Nations" that ignored the fundamentals of the UN charter and promoted what it called a "bold new approach to resolving global conflict".
The White House said the board would also include private equity executive Marc Rowan, World Bank president Ajay Banga and Trump adviser Robert Gabriel. Nickolay Mladenov was named high representative for Gaza.
U.S. Army Major General Jasper Jeffers was appointed commander of an International Stabilisation Force. A UN Security Council resolution adopted in mid-November authorised the board and partner countries to establish the force in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of ceasefire violations, during which more than 450 Palestinians, including over 100 children, and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 2023 has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, triggered a hunger crisis and displaced the territory’s entire population.
Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say the campaign amounts to genocide. Israel says it acted in self-defence after Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in an attack in late 2023.
After months of heightened tension following their war in June 2025 and weeks of escalating mutual threats, Iran and the United States resumed fragile...
The United States has accused Beijing of conducting a covert nuclear test in 2020, adding fresh strain to already fraught relations as Washington pres...
A senior Russian military intelligence officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow, in the latest apparent assassinat...
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday...
Iran and the United States opened nuclear talks in Oman on Friday, with Tehran calling the meeting a good start and both sides agreeing to continue di...
Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 24 Palestinians including seven children in Gaza on Wednesday (4 February), health officials said, the latest violence to undermine the nearly four-month-old ceasefire.
A second group of Palestinians receiving medical treatment arrived in Egypt from Gaza via the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday (3 February).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has begun a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, seeking to deepen political and economic cooperation as regional tensions over Gaza, Iran and wider Middle East stability dominate the agenda.
Israel reopened the Rafah crossing on Monday (2 February) to a trickle of Palestinians for the first time in months, a major step in a U.S.-backed plan to end the war, though strict Israeli security checks slowed the process.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Winter weather has brought air travel in the German capital to a complete halt, stranding thousands of passengers as severe icing conditions make runways and aircraft unsafe for operation and force authorities to shut down one of Europe’s key transport hubs.
Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 24 Palestinians including seven children in Gaza on Wednesday (4 February), health officials said, the latest violence to undermine the nearly four-month-old ceasefire.
After months of heightened tension following their war in June 2025 and weeks of escalating mutual threats, Iran and the United States resumed fragile nuclear diplomacy on Friday, as negotiators from both sides held critical mediated talks in Muscat, Oman.
The United States has accused Beijing of conducting a covert nuclear test in 2020, adding fresh strain to already fraught relations as Washington presses for a broader arms control treaty to include China as well as Russia.
A senior Russian military intelligence officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting the country’s top brass since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Iran and the United States opened nuclear talks in Oman on Friday, with Tehran calling the meeting a good start and both sides agreeing to continue discussions after returning to their capitals for consultations.
An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday before detonating a suicide bomb that killed at least 31 people in the deadliest assault of its kind in the capital in more than ten years.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment