Israel objects to White House’s pick of leaders for ‘board of peace’

Israel has objected to the White House’s pick of world leaders who will join the so-called Gaza “board of peace”, meant to temporarily oversee governance and reconstruction in the strip.The White House and other sources announced a flurry of appointments and invitations to the organisation over the last two days, including Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, former UK prime minister Tony Blair and the president of Argentina, Javier Milei.Israel said that some of the appointments were “not coordinated with Israel and were contrary to its policy”, without specifying who it objected to. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also told the Israeli foreign minister to contact the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio.The group, described as the “greatest and most prestigious board ever assembled, at any time, any place” by Donald Trump on Thursday, is meant to temporarily govern Gaza in place of Hamas.The board is part of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. Despite a ceasefire announced in October, Israel continues to kill Palestinians. At least 463 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the nominal truce was established.Israel also continues to restrict food and other forms of aid into the strip, with hunger prevailing in Gaza. Most of the population lives in substandard housing, with frayed tents providing little protection from the elements. Palestinians in Gaza have already died from hypothermia during particularly harsh cold snaps this winter.The exact makeup of the board of peace is still unclear, but two separate governing boards have been announced.The “founding executive board” will focus on investment and foreign relations, while the “Gaza executive board” will oversee another group, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which will oversee the day-to-day affairs in Gaza.Rubio is on the seven-member founding executive board, along with the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Tony Blair, with Trump as its chair.Blair thanked Trump for the appointment and said that the NCAG was a “massive step forward”.“It gives hope to people in Gaza that they can have a future different from the past, and to the Israelis that they may have a neighbour which does not threaten its security,” Blair said in a statement.There was no word if all of the invitees accepted their invitation to join the Board of Peace, with Sisi and Erdogan not confirming their appointment.The US-drafted ceasefire plan for Gaza moved into its second phase this week, which includes several thorny issues, such as the disarmament of Hamas, reconstruction and the deployment of an international security force.Hamas has not yet committed to disarm, and the makeup of an international security force is still unknown. Israel has in the past objected to Turkey playing a role in the force.The board of peace will be tasked with not only running the administration of Gaza, but also its reconstruction. Most of the strip was destroyed by Israeli bombs and bulldozers during its more than two-year war, which killed more than 71,000 Palestinians.