Trump appoints Tony Blair, Jared Kushner to Gaza ‘Board of Peace’

US President Donald Trump has unveiled what the White House describes as a new architecture for peace in Gaza, appointing former British prime minister Tony Blair to his so-called 'Board of Peace' — a powerful body expected to steer the American president’s sweeping 20-point plan to end Israel’s devastating war on the besieged Palestinian enclave, the Al Jazeera reported.

In a statement issued on Friday, the White House said Blair would serve as a founding executive member of the board, alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, US secretary of state Marco Rubio, and Steve Witkoff, Washington’s special envoy to the Middle East. Together, they form the core of an ambitious — and controversial — effort to reshape Gaza’s future once the guns fall silent.

The board’s ranks also include some of the most influential figures in global finance and diplomacy: Marc Rowan, chief executive of Apollo Global Management; World Bank Group president Ajay Banga; and Robert Gabriel, a deputy US national security adviser. According to the White House, the group will oversee a vast portfolio central to Gaza’s “stabilisation and long-term success”, spanning governance reform, regional diplomacy, reconstruction, investment mobilisation and the channelling of large-scale international funding.

At the helm of Gaza’s transitional administration will be Nickolay Mladenov, a seasoned Bulgarian diplomat and former senior United Nations official, who has been appointed High Representative for Gaza. Mladenov previously served as the UN’s top envoy to the region between 2015 and 2020.

Alongside the Board of Peace, Washington also announced the formation of a Gaza Executive Board, designed to manage governance and essential services in the territory during the transition away from Hamas rule. Blair, Kushner and Witkoff will sit on this body as well, joined by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Qatari diplomat Ali Al Thawadi and other regional figures.

In a further militarised dimension to the plan, the White House said US major-general Jasper Jeffers — the current commander of US special forces — has been appointed Commander of the International Stabilisation Force for Gaza. Jeffers is expected to lead security operations, oversee the delivery of humanitarian aid and advance what Washington terms “comprehensive demilitarisation”.

While the United States has long backed Israel’s insistence that Hamas surrender all of its weapons, the Palestinian group has said any such move would require firm political guarantees. Under Trump’s plan, the Gaza Executive Board will support both the High Representative’s office and a newly created National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which is expected to assume day-to-day governance in the enclave.

The NCAG will be headed by Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister of transportation for the Palestinian Authority. Though originally from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Shaath is currently based in the occupied West Bank. Hamas has previously indicated its willingness to relinquish administrative control of Gaza under the framework outlined in the Trump plan.

There was no immediate response from Hamas or other Palestinian factions to the announcement of the board’s membership.

The unveiling of the Board of Peace comes days after Witkoff declared the launch of phase two of the US-brokered plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza — a conflict that has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians since October 2023. The Trump administration says the initiative is now moving “from ceasefire to demilitarisation, technocratic governance, and reconstruction”.

Yet on the ground, the promise of peace remains elusive. Palestinians continue to question what the plan will mean in practice as Israeli forces persist with deadly attacks and restrict humanitarian aid, in apparent violation of the ceasefire agreement that took effect in October. On Friday alone, a 10-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy and an elderly woman were killed in Israeli strikes, even as members of a proposed Palestinian technocratic committee convened in Cairo to prepare for the next phase of the plan.

Blair’s participation has drawn particular scrutiny. His name had circulated for months as a possible appointee, and critics point to his central role in the US-led “war on terror” and his support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq during his tenure as British prime minister from 1997 to 2007.

Kushner’s inclusion has also fuelled controversy. A staunch supporter of Israel, Trump’s son-in-law has previously questioned Palestinians’ capacity for self-governance and maintains close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Gaza. In 2024, Kushner described Gaza as possessing “very valuable” waterfront property, suggesting Israel should “move the people out and then clean it up”.

According to Al Jazeera, several figures appointed by Trump will straddle both the Board of Peace and the Gaza Executive Board. “The Board of Peace appears to have overarching authority,” he said, “while the executive board handles the nuts and bolts of transition on the ground.”

Hanna also highlighted the significance of Mladenov’s appointment, signalling a continued UN role in Gaza’s reconstruction despite years of strained relations between Washington and the world body. “For these boards to have any semblance of credibility, UN involvement is utterly essential,” he said.

Criticism of the initiative was swift. Ashish Prashar, a former aide to Blair, rejected the idea of international trusteeship over Gaza, arguing that “the future of Palestine should only be decided by Palestinians”. He accused the board of comprising figures with a record of backing Israel’s campaign in Gaza and warned that Trump’s “Board of Peace” could serve as a template for similar interventions elsewhere.

“Trump’s Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ was just a pilot project,” Prashar told the Al Jazeera. “All the states that signed off on it paved the way for the next boards — whether in Venezuela, Ukraine or wherever the extractionist American regime turns its gaze next.”