Representatives of Palestinian factions and the Palestinian Authority will meet in Egypt's capital in the coming week to agree on a final list of candidates for an independent committee to run Gaza's day-to-day affairs, sources in Cairo with direct knowledge of the deliberations told The National on Sunday.
Egyptian mediators are co-ordinating the consultations among the factions, whose representatives are also in contact with mediators from Turkey and Qatar, the sources said.
They said representatives of the factions held separate one-on-one talks with the Egyptians in Cairo last week.
The formation of the "technocratic, apolitical" committee is a central part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, along with the creation of a UN-sanctioned International Stabilisation Force to be deployed in Gaza and a Board of Peace, possibly led by Mr Trump, to oversee the future of the territory, including reconstruction.
Other elements include the thorny issue of disarming Hamas and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
The first phase began with a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, ending a two-year war in Gaza that killed more than 70,000 Palestinians and destroyed most of the tiny enclave. It included the exchange of hostages held by Hamas for hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, as well as increased deliveries of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The ceasefire has been fragile – Israel has killed more than 400 Palestinians since it took effect and militants have been blamed for the deaths of three Israeli soldiers. Israel has failed to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as agreed, and allowed in only a fraction of the humanitarian aid needed, according to UN agencies and aid groups.
The sources said Israel has objected to four potential candidates for the committee on the grounds that they had ties to Hamas, and also wants the committee to comprise 12 members, not 15 as previously suggested by the mediators. The Palestinian factions have agreed to Israel's demand on the number of committee members, they added.
"Since the Palestinian Authority is the internationally recognised representative of the Palestinians, it is being asked to issue a law creating the committee and approving its members," said one of the sources.
"The factions and the mediators are in agreement that the committee should have a three-year mandate that's clearly laid out in the relevant law to be issued by the Palestinian Authority."
The sources said Mr Trump is expected to announce the creation of the Board of Peace later in the week. Initially, the board will include the heads of state of Egypt and Qatar as well as representatives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, they said.
Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has been identified as the board's chief executive officer ahead of Mr Trump’s expected announcement, according to Bloomberg.
The board's headquarters is expected to be in the Egyptian city of El Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, although no final decision has been made on that, the sources said. The Mediterranean city, which has an international-grade airport and a commercial port, lies about 40km from the Rafah crossing.
Mr Trump has said many countries have agreed to participate in the stabilisation force that will maintain security in Gaza, but has not named them. Egypt and Jordan are widely thought to be among the top candidates to contribute troops. Bangladesh said on Saturday that it wanted to participate in the force.
Israel has opposed the participation of Turkey because of what it sees as the hostile attitude of the Muslim-majority Nato member state since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023 following a deadly attack by Hamas on southern Israel that killed 1,200.
Egypt, a US ally that borders both Israel and Gaza and which has close ties with Ankara, is known to be in favour of Turkish participation. The US is believed to be trying to persuade Israel to accept Turkish participation in the proposed force, according to the sources.
