Trump Overrides Israeli Objections to Advance Gaza Peace Plan

** Bottom Line Up Front
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* President Trump and his team are countering Israeli threats to restart the war in Gaza by moving forward on the implementation of Phase II of the U.S. peace plan for Gaza.
* U.S. officials have appointed a 15-person governing committee of Palestinian technocrats, along with a Board of Peace and its subordinate “Gaza Executive Board,” which will supervise the Palestinian governing body.
* Hamas has agreed to cede power to the new Palestinian authority, but its insistence on remaining armed jeopardizes the U.S. plan’s prospects to bring permanent peace and stability to the enclave.
* The charter of the Board of Peace sparked significant turmoil as the World Economic Forum in Davos convened, as some allied leaders accused Trump of assembling a peacemaking body to rival the United Nations.
Faced with gathering challenges early in 2026, including a major uprising in Iran (https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2026-january-12/) that still threatens to engulf the region in new conflict, and combat between its two partners inside Syria, U.S. President Donald Trump and his team are moving to ensure the Gaza war does not reignite. Since forging a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas under his 20 Point Peace Plan for Gaza in October, Trump’s team has sought to assuage Israeli fears that the peace plan will fail to end Hamas’ political and military control of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that the Trump peace plan must guarantee Israel’s security — defined as the elimination of Hamas’ political and military infrastructure, including the dismantlement of the remaining tunnel network and weapons production facilities Hamas built. Washington’s insistence that Israel adhere to Trump’s Gaza plan and refrain from restarting combat against Hamas has
compounded U.S.-Israel strains on a wider range of regional issues, including Syria and, to a lesser extent, Lebanon.
Since the December return of all but the last remaining deceased Israeli hostage in Gaza, Trump’s key Gaza mediators, Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, have urged Israel to move into “Phase II” (https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-december-16/) of the Gaza peace plan. Phase II outlines permanent governance and security arrangements for the enclave, requires Israel to complete its withdrawal from Gaza, begins the reconstruction process, and sets the conditions for a future independent Palestinian state. If completed, the Phase II tasks would presumably meet Israel’s security demands. However, Israel insisted Phase II should only begin after Hamas returned the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza, Ran Gvili — a rationale widely viewed as a cover for Israel’s doubts about the Trump plan’s long-term viability. Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and Defense Minister Israel Katz have publicly threatened to restart the war against Hamas unless
it agreed to disarm, even if doing so jeopardizes the Trump plan outright.
Last Thursday, the Trump team finalized several key Phase II decisions that, collectively, sought to reassure Israel of the U.S. commitment to the plan and pre-empt Israeli consideration of restarting combat against Hamas. Trump appointed 15 members of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the committee of Palestinian technocrats that will run Gaza on an interim basis. According to a White House statement: “The NCAG will be led by Dr. Ali Sha’ath, a widely respected technocratic leader who will oversee the restoration of core public services, the rebuilding of civil institutions, and the stabilization of daily life in Gaza, while laying the foundation for long-term, self-sustaining governance.” The remaining members of the committee were not named, but media reports indicated that they all hail from the Gaza Strip and that many have been part of the PA or its dominant Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
(https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-october-9/) . The group held its first meeting that day, but, as an indication of Gaza’s unsettled politico-military complexion, the session was held in Cairo. It is not clear when the group will relocate to Gaza. Shaath, a former deputy minister in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) (https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2023-november-7/) , told journalists the committee’s top priority is to provide temporary housing to the majority of Gaza’s population of two million people who have been displaced by the war. He added that the committee would subsequently focus on rehabilitating basic infrastructure and reconstructing homes and buildings.
Israeli leaders immediately painted the new committee as beholden to the PA, whose return to Gaza rule Israel opposes. The U.S. peace plan provides for the PA to ultimately replace the new Palestinian governing body, after the PA has undergone thorough reform to eliminate corruption and any support for violence against Israelis. A U.S. official told journalists that the U.S. anticipates that progress toward disarming Hamas — an uncertain achievement in light of Hamas’s insistence on remaining armed — would induce Israel to drop its opposition to an eventual return of PA rule in Gaza. Israel had lobbied the Trump team not to include either Hamas or PA figures in the new interim governing committee — a position Arab officials called untenable. One Arab diplomat told journalists on background: “If Israel doesn’t want those tied to the PA, what’s left are the ones on the Hamas payroll.” Israeli objections aside, regional leaders endorse the new committee. Egyptian officials said all members of
the new governing committee had been agreed upon by all Palestinian factions, and the PA and Hamas also expressed support for the body. Hamas and its smaller pro-Tehran ally, Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) (https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2023-october-12/) , issued a joint statement that they would help create “the appropriate environment” for the group to begin its work.
Trump officials also sought to reassure Netanyahu that the U.S. remains committed to Hamas’ disarmament by starting to fill out the command structure for the force tasked to secure Gaza — the International Stabilization Force (ISF) (https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-december-1/) . Alongside other Gaza-related appointments, the U.S. announced that U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers will serve as ISF Commander, saying, “he will lead security operations, support comprehensive demilitarization, and enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials.” However, Trump aides have asserted no U.S. military personnel would deploy in Gaza, and no country has finalized a commitment to send troops to the ISF, fueling Israeli doubts over the ISF’s effectiveness in disarming Hamas.
Trump’s other Phase II appointments prompted global leaders to question Washington’s goals in the Gaza peace process. The White House’s Thursday statement also named core members of the “Board of Peace,” the entity tasked by the U.S. peace plan to supervise the Palestinian governing committee. The named appointments consisted primarily of senior members of Trump’s Middle East policy team, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and two U.S. businessmen. On Friday, the U.S. sent invitations to at least 60 countries to serve three-year terms on the Board (which can become permanent seats in exchange for a $1 billion contribution to a Gaza reconstruction fund). Media organizations and government statements confirmed that the U.S. invited its key partners in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, and India, and several Central Asian and South Caucasian states.
The U.S. also invited Russia, Belarus, and China to join the Board, sparking an immediate outcry from European leaders who argued authoritarian leaders should have no place on a body devoted to building a democratic and moderate political structure in Gaza. The sweeping agenda of the Board’s U.S.-drafted charter generated opposition from European leaders — already at odds with Trump (https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2026-january-21/) over Greenland, Ukraine, and other issues — who judged that Trump was seeking to assemble a body to rival the key peacemaking function of the United Nations. Trump did not deny that intent when asked about it at a White House news conference on Tuesday. The proposed charter, according to the New York Times, states that the body would “secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict” — a mission that transcends the Gaza conflict. France and Norway cited the Board’s global focus as the reason they would not join. Despite the unrest over
the Board’s mandate, Witkoff told CNBC on Wednesday that more than 20 countries have agreed to join the group. Of those, about half have made their acceptances public, including Israel, Egypt, Canada, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, the UAE, Belarus, Morocco, Hungary, Vietnam, and Kazakhstan (which recently joined the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with Israel). A U.S.-organized signing ceremony of the Board’s charter on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday should further clarify the Board’s membership.
While sidestepping criticism of the Board of Peace, Israel’s government made clear its objections to the composition of a separate and subordinate “Gaza Executive Board” named by Trump. U.S. statements described the Gaza Executive Board as an operational body that will provide an “on-the-ground link” between the Board of Peace and the Palestinian governing body in Gaza. Trump named Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, who is said to be close to the UAE leadership, to head the day-to-day operations of the body as “High Representative for Gaza.” Trump officials said the Gaza Executive Board would include the top U.S. Middle East negotiators Witkoff and Kushner, Blair, several businessmen, including an Israeli-Cypriot, and several senior regional and global figures: Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; Ali Al-Thawadi, a senior aide to Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister; UAE Minister of State Reem Al-Hashimy; Egypt’s intelligence chief General Hassan Rashad; and Dutch diplomat Sig
rid Kaag.
Israel vocalized its strong objections to the Gaza Executive Board’s membership, and lobbied the Trump team not to include Türkiye and Qatar, citing their consistent engagement with and hosting of Hamas leaders. According to Israel’s Channel 12, Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed Netanyahu that the decision to include Ankara and Doha — both key U.S. allies — was irrevocable. Israel expressed its disagreement with the Trump team in part by asserting on Monday that it would not reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as is required under Phase II of the U.S. peace plan. Still, despite widening differences between Israel and Washington, the Phase II appointments by Trump and his team are likely, for now, to constrain Netanyahu and his team from any restart of the war in Gaza.

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