Former US President Donald Trump has announced the formation of an international ‘Board of Peace’ to oversee governance and reconstruction efforts in Gaza, naming several high-profile figures to lead the initiative. The seven-member board will be chaired by Trump himself and includes former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The board’s operational leadership will consist of Aryeh Lightstone and Josh Gruenbaum as senior advisers managing day-to-day strategy, with Bulgarian diplomat Nicholay Mladenov, former UN Middle East peace coordinator, serving as High Representative of Gaza. According to a White House statement, each member will assume specific responsibilities critical to Gaza’s stabilization, including governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, and large-scale funding mobilization.
The board will supervise a technocratic committee comprising 15 Palestinians, led by former Palestinian deputy minister for planning Ali Shaath. Trump enthusiastically described the newly-formed body as “the greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place,” representing the next phase of his 21-point plan for Gaza.
However, several appointments have generated significant controversy, particularly that of Tony Blair. Critics point to Blair’s role in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and his organization’s consultancy work for autocratic governments including Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. The Tony Blair Institute has faced additional scrutiny for accepting funds from figures linked to illegal Israeli settlements and American Islamophobic networks, as well as Blair’s honorary patronage of the UK branch of Israel’s Jewish National Fund.
The board’s launch coincides with deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where Israeli restrictions on aid delivery have exacerbated a severe winter crisis. Recent rainstorms have destroyed thousands of tents and compromised structurally damaged buildings, leading to at least 31 winter-related Palestinian deaths, including 19 children from hypothermia. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, continued Israeli attacks have resulted in 450 Palestinian fatalities, adding to the overwhelming death toll of more than 71,400 Palestinians killed since October 2023.