The US administration has made consecutive announcements on the formation of two new bodies to improve living conditions and bring stability to Gaza.
Scepticism is rife about how far either body can go in reversing the miserable reality of around two million Palestinians stranded with hardly any food, medicine, or shelter, or for ending Israel’s military attacks on Gaza.
The International Board of Peace for Gaza (IBPG) chaired by US President Donald Trump comprises core members from the Trump Middle East team. Trump is inviting interested world leaders to join the board upon the payment of $1 billion, with some so far accepting and others set to decline.
The Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (PNCAG), a technocratic body of 15 members that is supposed to be in charge of the civil administration of the Strip, was also announced this week. Its first meeting was held in Cairo under the presidency of Ali Shaath, a civil engineer of Gazan origin.
However, there is little clarity about the mandate of either body. It is not even clear when, or if, Israel will allow the PNCAG to go into Gaza to start its work. Many sources say the committee should focus on improving the harsh living conditions of Gazans.
Israel has not made any announcement about its plan to cooperate with the PNCAG. Throughout the past week, the Israeli press has been quoting an official source who said that Israel is unhappy with the final formation of the PNCAG and is also refusing to see Turkey on the IBPG.
“There is nothing surprising there,” said an Egyptian official. Israel, he said, has not been acting in line with the Trump peace plan since the ceasefire went into effect. It has not been honouring all of its commitments, including the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza and the prompt operation of the Rafah Crossing that gives Gazans access to the world through the Egyptian border.
“The situation looks very bleak,” the same official said. However, he added that Egypt is keen to see the committee formed after repeated delays due to Israeli objections to its potential members.
As a result of pressure from Trump on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sources say, an Israeli agreement to a tentative list was secured. However, according to the Israeli press, the final list is not subject to the full consent of Netanyahu and his political partners and military aides.
On Monday, none of the sources who had spoken to Al-Ahram Weekly had any clear answer about the exact mandate of the PNCAG, its possible entry into Gaza, or the possible operation of the Rafah Crossing with a PNCAG presence on the Palestinian side of the crossing.
“Our position remains the same: the operation of the Rafah Crossing can be done only if there is a Palestinian presence on the other side. We are not going to give legitimacy to the Israeli presence,” said a government official.
However, he had no idea as to whether Israel would agree to this Egyptian condition that it has been shrugging off since the ceasefire went into effect in the second week of last October.
“We are still working on it,” he said.
On Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel should ignore Egypt and open the border to allow Palestinians to exit Gaza with no hope of return. Smotrich added that Israel should take control of all of Gaza, beyond the over 60 per cent that it is currently controlling.
“This is what it boils down to — the [Israeli government] is planning to take over all of Gaza,” said Wael Rabie, a senior military expert. He added that the help that Israel is receiving on this plan from other regional and international parties is making Netanyahu and the more extremist members of his government stick to his plan to displace the Palestinians from Gaza.
He added that this plan cannot be seen as distinct from the ongoing military operations of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank that have stripped considerable stretches from the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the future construction of illegal Israeli settlements.
Rabie argued that despite the Israeli intentions and actions, it was important to try to give a push to political action on Gaza to avoid the failure of the ceasefire.
According to the terms of the ceasefire that went into effect last autumn, it has three phases. The first, which immediately went into effect, included the cessation of military actions, the two-way operation of the Rafah Crossing, the entry of humanitarian aid, and the exchange of Israeli hostages and remains in return for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
With the exception of the hostages-prisoners swap, very little has been done on the other fronts. Aid workers in Gaza have repeatedly complained about the insufficient humanitarian aid allowed into the Strip.
The second phase of the agreement is supposed to allow for the operation of the Palestinian administration of Gaza, the full disarmament of Hamas, and the start of reconstruction. The third phase should see the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Sources privy to the indirect Hamas-Israel negotiations and to the talks that the three mediators, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, are holding with the parties and with the US say that Israel is stalling with the intention of not moving forwards.
With only one body of an Israeli hostage still lacking, Netanyahu has said that the handover is incomplete. And despite the inability of Hamas to retaliate to any of the Israeli strikes on Gaza that have been conducted in violation of the ceasefire, Netanyahu is still saying that Hamas has to disarm.
Informed sources say that at the end of the devastating Israeli strikes on Gaza over two consecutive years, Hamas has lost well over 80 per cent of its military capacity.
The same sources say that Hamas had agreed to exercise whatever is left of its military capacity under Arab-Muslim supervision.
According to a New York-based diplomat, Netanyahu is making it difficult to approve and mobilise the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) for Gaza. According to the Trump peace plan, the ISF should be composed of troops from Muslim and Arab countries, and it should be stationed in Gaza to monitor the commitment of both sides to the ceasefire.
Netanyahu, the diplomatic source said, has been making objections to the participation of certain countries, “particularly Turkey”, in the ISF. He added that Netanyahu is still insisting that the ISF should be in charge of disarming Hamas, something that none of the participating countries is willing to sign up to.
However, the diplomatic source added that with Trump insisting on moving on with his plan, “Netanyahu will have to succumb to a few things.”
Trump is planning to host the signing of the launch of the IBPG in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump wrote that this is “the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place.”
On Monday, the Times of Israel published what it said was the list of members of the IBPG. Judging by the text it shared, it seems that the board is not just about Gaza but is “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”
As the Weekly went to print, it was not clear which of the 60 countries that had received invitations from Trump would sign on to joining the board.
President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi left on Tuesday to take part in the World Economic Forum and to hold talks with Trump on the sidelines. Qatari Prime Minister Mohamed bin Abdel-Rahman bin Jassim Al Thani was also scheduled to arrive in Davos on Tuesday. It is expected that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also take part.
Also scheduled to be present in Davos is Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 22 January, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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