US President Donald Trump announced that members of his newly created Board of Peace have pledged $5 billion toward rebuilding war-torn Gaza and will provide thousands of personnel for international stabilization and policing efforts in the enclave.
The pledges, Trump said in a social media post on Sunday, will be formally announced when board members gather in Washington on Thursday for their first meeting. “The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential international body in history, and it is my honor to serve as its chairman,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Thursday’s meeting will take place at the US Institute of Peace, which the State Department announced in December it was renaming the Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace. Details of member nations contributing to reconstruction or sending personnel for the stabilization force have not yet been disclosed.
Indonesia has made the first confirmed commitment, with its military announcing that up to 8,000 troops could be deployed to Gaza by the end of June as part of a humanitarian and peace mission.
Reconstruction of Gaza is expected to be a monumental task. Following a 10 October ceasefire after more than two years of conflict with Israel, the United Nations, World Bank, and European Union estimate rebuilding costs at around $70 billion.
The ceasefire requires an armed international stabilization force to maintain security and disarm Hamas, a key demand from Israel, but few countries have yet expressed interest in joining.
It remains unclear how many of the Board of Peace’s more than 20 members will attend the first meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Trump at the White House last week, is not expected to attend.
Originally intended to halt the Israel-Hamas conflict, analysts say Trump’s board may now aim for a broader global mandate, potentially bypassing the United Nations. Many of America’s key European allies have refused to join, viewing the board as a challenge to the UN Security Council.
