The Trump administration laid out its ambitious plan for Gaza reconstruction through the newly created “Board of Peace” on Thursday, but the long-term goals unveiled still depend on the successful demilitarization of Hamas.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and one of the lead U.S. negotiators in this venture, said during the signing ceremony at the World Economic Forum on Thursday in Davos, Switzerland, that the enclave cannot be rebuilt without Hamas agreeing to demilitarize and that failure to do so could be “what holds back Gaza, and the people of Gaza from achieving their aspirations.”
The president himself made a similar remark, saying Hamas terrorists “were born with rifles in their hands, but they have to give up their weapons, and if they don’t do that, it’s going to be the end of them.”
Hamas has agreed to hand over day-to-day governance of Gaza to the Board of Peace-linked Palestinian committee of technocrats, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, led by Ali Shaath. But the U.S.-designated terrorist group has not yet agreed to lay down its weapons and give up control of Gaza’s security.
Kushner presented the administration’s “demilitarization principles,” which officials expect to be implemented in the next 100 days.
The plans laid out by the United States call for the immediate decommissioning of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of military infrastructure, tunnels, weapons production facilities, and munitions. It calls on Palestinians to lead this process with international verification but does not specify who exactly will lead the effort. However, the long-term objective is that only NCAG-approved personnel can carry weapons.
Reconstruction will only occur in sectors of Gaza that fully disarm, and “Gaza-wide demilitarization enables full [Israeli military] withdrawal to the security perimeter,” according to the proposal released by the White House.
This deal only came together with the help of the U.S.’s Middle East partners, including Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Kushner said. Those partners, which have largely been responsible for communicating with Hamas leadership during the various rounds of negotiations over the more than two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks ignited the current conflict, while the U.S. did the same with Israel.
While there are more than 20 countries that signed on to the Board of Peace, several European countries and longtime U.S. allies did not, though the total could still grow as a handful of invited countries said they needed more time to review it. But getting the Middle Eastern Arab nations on board was notable given their connections with Hamas.
Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East-focused U.S. diplomat, told the Washington Examiner the board is not needed, but rather, “You need four countries. You need Trump dealing with Israel, and you need the Qataris, Egyptians, and the Turks dealing with Hamas, because if you cannot solve the basic challenge, which neither ceasefire nor the phase-one agreement solved, Gaza is going to be increasingly divided into two. Divided, dysfunctional, and sporadically violent.”
The “odds against serious decommissioning and demilitarization are huge,” added Miller, who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
During the signing ceremony, organizers aired a prerecorded video message from Shaath in which he said, “It’s my responsibility to turn this moment into action to restore order to rebuild institutions and to create a future for the people of Gaza defined by opportunity and dignity under the principle of one authority, one law, and one weapon.”
As a first step, he announced that the Rafah crossing, which is along the Gaza-Egyptian border, but the Gaza side is controlled by the Israeli military, would soon be open both ways. But Israel, which was supposed to do this as a part of the first phase of the deal, has not confirmed that yet.
Nikolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s Gaza envoy, also confirmed Thursday that the crossing will reopen soon.
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“I am pleased that an agreement has been reached regarding the preparation for reopening of the Rafah crossing,” Mladenov wrote on X. “Concurrently, we are working with Israel and the [NCAG] to expedite the search for the remaining Israeli hostage.”
Israeli officials have argued the crossing should not be reopened to allow additional humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave until Hamas hands over the body of Ran Gvili, the final Israeli hostage the group holds.