Months after the Trump administration’s Board of Peace awarded its first construction contract for a controversial international stabilization force base in Gaza, the project remains stuck on the drawing board, as Israeli authorities have refused to grant access for contractors to enter the besieged enclave, British newspaper The Guardian has reported.
The initiative, launched after the 10 October 2025 ceasefire agreement that was billed by former U.S. President Donald Trump as a step to end Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, awarded the contract to U.S. construction firm Arkel International back in August. The company’s mandate was to build a fortified 10,000-square-meter temporary outpost fitted with earthen defensive barriers, designed to accommodate rotating deployments of 150 troops drawn from a 500-strong contingent sourced from Morocco and Kosovo. These troops were positioned as the vanguard of an international stabilization force assembled exclusively from countries deemed friendly to Israel, a plan that has sparked fierce international and domestic backlash.
Two months have passed since the contract was awarded, and no progress has been made. A source familiar with the inner workings of the project told The Guardian that Israeli officials have refused to open border crossings to allow the contractor, equipment, and supplies into Gaza. Without Israeli approval, even basic infrastructure and life-support utilities cannot be installed, leaving the entire initiative dead in the water. “There’s no security. There’s no deliveries of construction equipment. You can’t even start putting utilities. You can’t start putting in basic life-support facilities you know because without the ISF (International Stabilization Force) you can’t go in,” the source explained.
The stalled project lays bare who holds ultimate decision-making power over the Board of Peace, an initiative Trump hailed as a landmark step toward ending conflict in the blockaded coastal strip. Despite the ceasefire that established the board, ongoing violence has persisted: since the truce took effect, more than 1,488 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, with at least 5,281 wounded. UN data shows that the violence has claimed the life of nearly one Palestinian child every single day in this post-ceasefire period. To date, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 74,377 Palestinians and wounded over 175,398, with thousands more still missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. Thousands of additional deaths have also been attributed to Israel’s ongoing blockade of critical medical aid and basic supplies into the enclave.
The plan to deploy Moroccan and Kosovar troops to Gaza has already stirred intense controversy in both countries. Civil society organizations and academic communities in both nations have widely condemned the deployment, arguing that it amounts to aiding and abetting Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
The Israeli government’s current leadership has openly pushed for policies that amount to ethnic cleansing of Gaza’s indigenous Palestinian population, with the goal of replacing existing Palestinian communities with exclusive Jewish settlements. Senior Israeli cabinet members, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have publicly advocated for policies designed to make daily life so unbearable for Palestinians that they have no option but to flee Gaza entirely.
This reporting was originally published by Middle East Eye, a media outlet that provides independent, in-depth coverage of the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding regions.