US President Donald Trump on Friday (Jan 16) announced the who's who of the Gaza Board of Peace. The POTUS handed a prominent role in post-war Gaza to former British prime minister Tony Blair, while appointing a senior US military officer to lead a new international security force for the battered Palestinian territory.
Who's who of Gaza 'Board of Peace'
Trump announced the full membership of what he has branded a Gaza Board of Peace, a body he has said will oversee reconstruction and governance in the enclave after more than two years of devastating Israeli bombardment. The board is dominated by Americans.
Alongside Blair, Trump named a cluster of close allies to the board, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Steve Witkoff, a longtime business partner turned negotiator. Other members include World Bank president Ajay Banga, financier Marc Rowan, and National Security Council aide Robert Gabriel.
On the security front, Trump appointed US Major General Jasper Jeffers to lead an International Stabilisation Force tasked with securing Gaza and training a new police force to replace Hamas. Jeffers previously oversaw ceasefire monitoring between Israel and Lebanon.
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Trump also named a separate advisory board that includes Blair, Witkoff, Mladenov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, alongside representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the UAE and UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag.
The White House said the board will focus on "governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding and capital mobilisation."
Why Blair's appointment is controversial
Blair’s appointment immediately drew attention. He remains a deeply divisive figure in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Trump himself acknowledged those sensitivities last year, saying he wanted to ensure Blair would be an “acceptable choice to everybody.” After leaving office in 2007, Blair spent years focused on Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy as the Quartet’s representative.
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The board members' announcements came as Israel confirmed fresh strikes on Gaza, accusing Hamas of a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire declared in October, even as Washington said the plan had entered a second phase focused on disarmament.

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