Trump's Board of Peace fails to secure funding as talks with Hamas loom

President Donald Trump launched the multinational "Board of Peace" in January with 28 founding members to oversee post‑war reconstruction in Gaza and to help implement the October cease‑fire agreement. The board’s executive team includes 14 diplomats, among them former British prime minister Tony Blair. Despite pledges of billions of dollars from member states, the Financial Times reports that “Zero dollars have been deposited” and the board’s fund remains empty.

Blair told BBC Radio 4 that the board will hold negotiations with Hamas next week to establish an interim Gaza government and advance the cease‑fire. He said, "we will have further negotiations with Hamas because we need to move this new government into Gaza." The initiative is criticized as a neocolonial project, with Palestinian groups and others denouncing it, while Israel continues to control large parts of the enclave and humanitarian aid remains far below the needs of Gaza’s two‑million residents.