The White House on Friday (January 16) announced key members of a so-called “Board of Peace,” an international body intended to supervise the temporary governance of the Gaza Strip and oversee the fragile ceasefire that followed two years of Israel’s war on the enclave. Under the plan, unveiled by the Trump administration in October, U.S. President Donald Trump will chair the board.

Among the named members are U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The administration said the board will oversee a transitional period in which a Palestinian technocratic body governs Gaza under international supervision, following sign-off on the framework by Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

Rights advocates and legal experts have sharply criticized the arrangement, arguing that an international board led by a U.S. president to govern a foreign territory resembles a colonial-era structure. Blair’s inclusion has also drawn backlash, given his role in the Iraq war and Britain’s imperial legacy in the Middle East. Notably, the White House did not include any Palestinian figures among the board’s founding executive members, saying additional names will be announced in the coming weeks.

The board will also include billionaire private equity executive Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump adviser Robert Gabriel. Nickolay Mladenov, a former United Nations Middle East envoy, was appointed high representative for Gaza. According to Daily Sabah, the structure is being framed by U.S. officials as a mechanism to stabilize Gaza during reconstruction while preventing a return to armed conflict.

On the security front, Army Major General Jasper Jeffers, a U.S. special operations commander, was named head of an International Stabilization Force for Gaza. The White House said the force was authorized by a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in mid-November, allowing participating countries to deploy personnel under the board’s mandate.

In addition, the administration announced an 11-member “Gaza Executive Board,” which appears to serve an advisory role. Its members include U.N. Middle East peace coordinator Sigrid Kaag, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al-Hashimy, Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Yakir Gabay, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has opposed any Turkish role in Gaza’s security arrangements, citing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strong denunciations of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The announcement followed Witkoff’s statement earlier this week marking the start of the second phase of the ceasefire, which he said would focus on demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction. The ceasefire, which took effect in October, initially halted the war, enabled a partial Israeli withdrawal, facilitated exchanges of Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, and allowed limited humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Palestinian officials, however, say Israel has repeatedly violated the truce. The war has killed more than 71,000 people mostly women and children and injured over 171,000 since October 2023. Since the ceasefire began, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that nearly 450 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,200 injured, underscoring the continued fragility of the agreement.

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