The White House released the names of some of the leaders who will play a part in overseeing the next steps in Gaza after the Palestinian committee set to govern the enclave under US supervision met for the first time in Cairo on Friday.
The committee’s leader, Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, pledged to get to work quickly to improve living conditions for the territory’s 2.1 million population.
“The Palestinian people were looking forward to this committee, its establishment and its work to rescue them,” Shaath said after the meeting, in a television interview on Egyptian media outlets.
US President Donald Trump supports the group’s efforts to govern Gaza after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli troops withdrew from parts of Gaza after the ceasefire took effect on 10 October, while thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to what is left of their homes.
A number of huge challenges still await in the next phase of the truce, including the deployment of an international security force to supervise the ceasefire deal and the difficult process of disarming Hamas.
Under Trump’s plan, Shaath’s technocratic committee will run day-to-day affairs in Gaza under the oversight of a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” whose members have not yet been named.
The White House said on Friday that an executive board will work to carry out the vision of the Board of Peace.
The executive board’s members include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.
Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and United Nations Middle East envoy, is to serve as the executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters.
The White House also announced the members of another board, the “Gaza Executive Board,” which will work with Mladenov, the technocratic committee and the international stabilisation force.
Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan and Mladenov will also sit on that board. Additional members include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi and Director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency Hassan Rashad.
The board will also include Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy, Israeli entrepreneur Yakir Gabay and the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Middle East expert, Sigrid Kaag.
Washington has not yet announced direct roles each of the named people will play, or when they’re expected to commence, but noted that details will be released in the coming weeks.