Trump Announces $5 Billion Gaza Pledge as ‘Board of Peace’ Prepares To Meet at Washington

Board of Peace Members have committed to give more than $5 billion to humanitarian and reconstructing efforts in Gaza, President Trump said just days ahead of the board’s first meeting in the U.S.In a statement on Truth Social Mr. Trump said that the Board of Peace has “unlimited potential. Last October, I released a plan for the permanent end to the conflict in Gaza, and our vision was unanimously adopted by the United Nations Security Council.”Mr. Trump said that members of the board will meet in Washington D.C. on Thursday and that they have pledged more than $5 billion toward the Gaza humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, and have committed “thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force (ISF) and local police to maintain security and peace for Gazans.”The president didn’t reveal which member states will send soldiers to join the ISF and police forces, both of which are seen as crucial if Hamas is to disarm. “Very importantly, Hamas must uphold its commitment to full and immediate demilitarization. The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential international body in history, and it is my honor to serve as its chairman,” Mr. Trump concluded. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t attend the upcoming meeting in Washington D.C. but is instead sending Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to represent Israel. Speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas must first be disarmed and Gaza then demilitarized. “Disarmed means that it must give up – its weapons, not ‘main’ weapons. People said ‘heavy weapons’ — there are practically no heavy weapons in Gaza. There’s no artillery, there are no tanks, there’s nothing,” Mr. Netanyahu said. The prime minister clarified that the heavy weapon that does the most damage are AK-47s. “That’s how they execute people. That’s how they shoot our people. That’s what they used in the massacre of October 7. That’s what they used…. 60,000 of them, they have to go — outside. Obviously, RPGs, rockets and so on, but that’s the main weapon, and that has to go,” he said. As for the demilitarization of Gaza, Israel dismantled some 150 kilometers of 500 kilometers of tunnels, but Israel has to “complete the job”, he said: “That means also that you can’t hide weapon labs or other facilities that they use to rearm themselves, regroup and reform, which they’re trying to do.”Mr. Netanyahu added that Israel is giving the ISF and other bodies “the opportunity to try to do it (disarm Hamas) the easy way. Again, we shall see, and it will be done. Gaza will not pose a threat ever again to the State of Israel.”Israel launched fresh strikes against northern and southern Gaza on Sunday in response to armed Palestinians violating the ceasefire by exiting underground infrastructure east of the Yellow Line, which the IDF controls. “During one of the strikes, the IDF eliminated the terrorist Ahmad Bayouk, who infiltrated the Reim base during the October 7th massacre,” the IDF said. The army also acknowledged that it killed Azem Abu Huli, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Nukhba Array in the central camps sector, last week. Mr. Hilu was responsible for “procuring weapons for the brigade’s terrorists and for advancing and carrying out attacks against IDF troops” and commanded the Nukhba brigade, the IDF added.

Trump Announces $5 Billion Gaza Pledge as ‘Board of Peace’ Prepares To Meet at Washington

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