Trump names Blair, Kushner, Rubio, Witkoff to Gaza "Board of Peace" - National & International News - FRI 16Jan2026 -

Trump names Blair, Kushner, Rubio, Witkoff to Gaza “Board of Peace”

Today, President Trump named the members of the “Board of Peace” which is to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza. Among the members named to the board are former British PM Tony Blair, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. These are not the only members of the board, but none of the members are Palestinian.

A group of Palestinian technocrats will serve on a “national committee for the administration of Gaza”. However, the national committee will ultimately report to the Board of Peace and have little power in its own right.

Earlier this week, Witkoff announced that the ceasefire was now entering “Phase 2”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly dismissed Witkoff’s announcement as being largely symbolic.

Under the agreement signed in October, Phase 2 would entail the full withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza. They were to be replaced with an international peacekeeping force with participants from dozens of countries, most of them majority Muslim. However, one country after another has withdrawn, signaling a lack of faith in the agreement. Israeli forces have not withdrawn from Gaza and continue killing civilians on a near-daily basis.

State of the “ceasefire”

Since the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire began on October 10 last year, Israeli forces have killed at least 463 people in Gaza, many of them children. This is an average of 4-5 people per day.

The Israeli military has also repeatedly violated the agreement by crossing into areas not assigned to its control in order to carry out deadly attacks and home demolitions. Israel also continues to block the entry of lifesaving aid. Under the agreement, Israel is required to allow in 600 trucks a day, but UN figures show an average of only 113 trucks a day have entered.

Adding to the misery, Israel has now banned dozens of international charity organizations from operating in Gaza, including groups like Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, and Caritas Catholic charities. Israel’s government said the organizations failed to share information on their personnel operating in Gaza and information on Palestinians who work with them. It’s possible the organizations were reluctant to share this information since Israel has killed or imprisoned thousands of Palestinian medical personnel and humanitarian workers.

However, reports indicate the requirements went far beyond that. The Catholic news agency Zenit reports that Israel required the organizations to commit to not supporting or pursuing international legal action against Israeli military personnel, including war crimes prosecutions. Australian media reports that organizations would have been required to recognize Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state” and refrain from any actions “de-legitimizing” Israel, including supporting the Boycott Divest Sanction (BDS) movement. Charities viewed these requirements as political in nature and a violation of their requirements for humanitarian neutrality.