Gaza reconstruction gets going as Trump announces star-studded panel

The White House has named Indian-American World Bank Group President Ajay Banga and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the founding Executive Board of the “ Board of Peace ,” as the United States pushed ahead with the next phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza transition plan even as violence has continued after the October ceasefire. The announcement came days after a US-backed Palestinian technocratic committee met for the first time in Cairo to begin preparations for governing Gaza under international supervision, while hundreds of reported ceasefire violations and mounting civilian deaths have underscored the fragility of the truce.

Releasing the list on Friday, the White House said the Board of Peace comprises leaders with “experience across diplomacy, development, infrastructure, and economic strategy” who will guide Gaza’s stabilisation, reconstruction and economic recovery. Along with Banga and Rubio, the Executive Board includes US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff , Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner , former UK prime minister Tony Blair , Apollo Global Management chief executive Marc Rowan and US Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel . Additional members are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

“Each Executive Board member will oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza’s stabilisation and long-term success, including governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding and capital mobilisation,” the White House said. To manage security, Major General Jasper Jeffers, Commander of US Special Operations Command Central, has been appointed Commander of the International Stabilisation Force, tasked with enforcing the ceasefire, supporting demilitarisation and enabling the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials. “The United States remains fully committed to supporting this transitional framework, working in close partnership with Israel, key Arab nations and the international community,” the White House said.

Trump has said the initiative is designed to end the war, remove Hamas from power and place Gaza under a technocratic Palestinian administration backed by international oversight. “I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, supported by the Board’s High Representative, to govern Gaza during its transition,” Trump said. The Palestinian committee met for the first time on Friday in Cairo. Its leader, Ali Shaath , an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, said the body would move quickly to improve conditions on the ground. “The Palestinian people were looking forward to this committee, its establishment and its work to rescue them,” Shaath said in an interview with Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News. He said reconstruction and recovery were expected to take about three years, beginning with urgent needs such as shelter.

Israeli troops have withdrawn from parts of Gaza since the October 10 ceasefire and are now positioned behind the Yellow Line, as thousands of displaced Palestinians return to devastated neighbourhoods. The White House has also announced a Gaza Executive Board of US, regional and international figures to support the technocratic committee and stabilisation force. Despite the truce, Gaza authorities report more than 1,100 ceasefire violations, including hundreds of shelling incidents, with Palestinian health officials saying over 400 Palestinians, many of them children, have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded since October 10, while several Israeli soldiers have also died. In the occupied West Bank, mourners on Friday buried 14-year-old Mohammad Na’san, killed by Israeli forces near Ramallah, and Gaza hospital officials reported the deaths of two children in Beith Lahiya, underscoring the continuing human toll.