Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Saturday that Cairo is continuing talks with Washington on the postwar governance framework for Gaza, and that the US will “announce the establishment of a Board of Peace in the coming period”.
The second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas involves the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force and a new governing structure coming into effect, including the Board of Peace.
Speaking to The National on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar, Mr Abdelatty outlined the next steps for Gaza’s administration. He said an immediate priority is the establishment of a Palestinian Administrative Committee.
Egypt is “pushing for its speedy formation and [for it to] be deployed across the Gaza Strip, because the Palestinians should govern themselves”, he added. “The committee will consist of Palestinian technocrats who are the residents of the Strip. They will be tasked with managing Gaza and providing essential services to its residents.”
He said the UN Security Council resolution underpinning the plan is built on “three entities: the Board of Peace, the International Stabilisation Force and the administrative committee – each of them temporary and all ending on December 31, 2027".
Egypt, alongside the US, Qatar and Turkey, helped secure the truce, which remains fragile as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating it.
'Foundation of Palestinian state'
The Board of Peace, an international governing body, is expected to include about a dozen Middle Eastern and western leaders. Under the ceasefire agreement, it is to be chaired by US President Donald Trump. It will oversee Gaza's reconstruction under the two-year UN mandate.
“By the end of the mandate, the Palestinian Authority will be empowered and will oversee the Gaza Strip and West Bank, because the two are connected and form the foundation of a Palestinian state,” said Mr Abdelatty.
The announcement of the body would be a significant step towards implementing Mr Trump's 20-point plan for the territory devastated by Israel's two-year military campaign against Hamas.
Talks are continuing on which countries will take part in the international force for Gaza, whose role will be to maintain security and ensure the disarming of the militant Hamas group, a key demand of Israel.
Senior Hamas official Khaled Meshal on Saturday said that the group rejects any external governance of Gaza. “Palestinians govern themselves by themselves,” he said.
Disarming Hamas, a step the militant group has not yet agreed to, will be a critical part of the talks. The plan also calls for Israel to withdraw its troops from the roughly half of the Gaza Strip that it still controls, as the international force is deployed.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that mediators are working to force the next phase of the ceasefire forward.
“We are at a critical moment. It's not yet there. So what we have just done is a pause,” the Qatari Prime Minister said during a panel discussion at the Doha Forum.
“We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, [until] there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the case today.”
Speaking on the same panel, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said talks on the stabilisation force were continuing, with critical questions remaining over its command structure. But its first goal, Mr Fidan added, “should be to separate Palestinians from the Israelis”.
Mr Fidan later said the disarmament of Hamas should not be the main priority in Gaza.
“That cannot be the first thing to do in the process, the disarming. We need to put things in proper order. We have to be realistic,” he said.
The US-brokered ceasefire was announced on October 10, but Israeli troops have killed hundreds of Palestinians since then.
Israel has killed more than 70,100 Palestinians, since the Gaza war started on October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian authorities.
The Israeli military began its offensive after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, taking hundreds hostage.
