US President Donald Trump has appointed former British prime minister Tony Blair to a prominent role in a new US-backed plan for post-war Gaza, while naming a senior American military officer to lead a proposed international security force in the devastated Palestinian territory.
The White House said on Friday that Trump had finalized the membership of a newly created “Board of Peace,” a body dominated by Americans that will oversee Gaza’s reconstruction, governance planning, and economic revival following more than two years of intense Israeli bombardment.
Trump, who has declared himself chair of the board, said its mandate will include governance capacity-building, regional diplomacy, reconstruction planning, investment attraction, and large-scale capital mobilisation for Gaza.
Alongside Blair, the board includes Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Trump’s longtime associate and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Other members named to the board are Ajay Banga, billionaire financier Marc Rowan, and Robert Gabriel, a close Trump aide serving on the National Security Council.
Blair’s controversial return to Middle East diplomacy
Blair’s appointment is likely to prove contentious across the Middle East, where he remains a divisive figure due to his role in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Trump acknowledged last year that Blair’s involvement would need to be “acceptable to everybody.”
After leaving office in 2007, Blair spent several years working on Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy as a representative of the Middle East Quartet, which included the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and Russia.
Parallel Palestinian governance talks in Cairo
The US announcement came as a Palestinian technocratic committee intended to help govern Gaza held its first meeting in Cairo. The gathering was attended by Kushner and international envoys, including Nickolay Mladenov, who has been appointed as a high representative to liaise between the Palestinian committee and Trump’s Board of Peace.
Gaza native Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Palestinian Authority, has been selected to head the governing committee. Members said they hope to travel to Gaza in the coming weeks to begin on-the-ground work, security permitting.
Security force to replace Hamas policing
Trump also named Jasper Jeffers, a US Major General from Central Command’s special operations forces, to lead a newly proposed International Stabilisation Force. The force is expected to provide security in Gaza and help train a new local police service intended to replace Hamas-run security structures.
Jeffers previously oversaw monitoring of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon in late 2024, a role that involved managing periodic violations linked to Hezbollah activity.
US officials said Washington is seeking international partners to contribute troops, with Indonesia emerging as an early volunteer. However, diplomats cautioned that persuading countries to deploy forces may prove difficult unless Hamas agrees to fully disarm.
Ceasefire strains and Israeli strikes
The announcement came as Israel’s military confirmed fresh strikes on Gaza on Friday, citing what it described as a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire declared in October. The strikes occurred despite US statements that the Gaza plan had moved into a second phase, shifting focus from halting hostilities to disarming Hamas.
Advisory board and regional tensions
Trump also announced a secondary executive advisory board, which will include Blair, Witkoff, Mladenov, and Hakan Fidan. Israel has rejected any Turkish role in the security force, citing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sharp criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Senior representatives from Egypt, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates—all key regional mediators—will also sit on the advisory body. The UAE normalised relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.
Despite strained relations with the United Nations, Trump also named Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Gaza, to the board.
