U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday chaired the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington, pledging $10 billion for reconstruction of Gaza, as Muslim-majority nations offered funding and troops for the war-torn region.
“We will help Gaza. We will straighten it out. We’ll make it successful,” Trump said at the meeting, holding up a document with pledges. “We will make it peaceful, and we will do things like that in other spots. Spots will come up, things will happen,” he said, hinting at a potential expansion of the ambit of the Board of Peace.
Morocco, Albania, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Kosovo were named as countries committing troops for the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which would secure reconstruction zones and support post-conflict governance. Despite speculation within Islamabad, Pakistan was not among the five nations who committed troops for the Force. Earlier, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had reiterated that Islamabad had made clear it would not be part of any disarming mandate in Gaza and would only be willing to serve in a peacekeeping role.
During the meeting, it was announced Morocco was ready to send police as well as officers to the ISF. The force’s American commander, Major General Jasper Jeffers, said an Indonesian officer would serve as his deputy.
Nickolay Mladenov, a veteran Bulgarian diplomat named high representative for Gaza by the United States, announced the beginning of recruitment for a post-Hamas police force in Gaza and said 2,000 people had applied in the first hours.
Trump told the meeting he hoped the use of force to disarm Hamas would not be necessary, noting Hamas had promised to disarm. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, meanwhile, maintained that disarming Hamas was “a fundamental” requirement for deradicalization in Gaza.
Reacting to the development, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said any international force must “monitor the ceasefire and prevent the [Israeli] occupation from continuing its aggression.” Disarmament could be discussed, he said, but did not directly commit to it.
Funding for Gaza
Apart from pledging $10 billion to the Board of the Peace on behalf of the U.S., Trump said contributing nations had raised $7 billion as an initial down payment for Gaza’s reconstruction. He said FIFA would raise $75 million for soccer-related projects in Gaza and that the United Nations will chip in $2 billion for humanitarian assistance.
“Together we can achieve the dream of bringing lasting harmony to a region tortured by centuries of war, suffering,” he said.
Praise for Pakistan
Trump was all praise for Pakistan during the inaugural Board of Peace meeting. “I like this man [P.M. Sharif] of Pakistan,” he said. Recalling last year’s conflict between Pakistan and India, he continued: “There was some fighting going on when I got to know him and your great Field Marshal [Asim Munir], a great guy.”
Noting P.M. Sharif had credited him with saving 25 million lives by halting the conflict, the U.S. president reiterated that he had played a role in ending the hostilities by threatening to impose hefty tariffs. He also lauded the professionalism of Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Aim Munir, calling him a “tough good fighter.”
Trump also, once again, revised the tally of downed jets during the conflict, saying “11 very expensive” planes were shot down in the fight.