According to the ceasefire agreement, the authority — known as the Board of Peace and chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump — is to oversee Gaza's reconstruction under a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate.
It will include about a dozen other Middle Eastern and Western leaders, the Arab official and the Western diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter.
The path forward for Gaza
Also to be announced is a committee of Palestinian technocrats who will run the day-to-day administration of post-war Gaza, they said. The Western diplomat, who spoke to the AP over the phone from Cairo, said the announcement about this will likely happen when Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet later this month.
The ceasefire deal also calls for an armed International Stabilisation Force to keep security and ensure the disarmament of the Resistance Hamas group, a key demand of Israel.
The announcement would be a significant step forward in implementing Trump's 20-point plan for the territory devastated by Israel's two-year genocidal war on Gaza, which started in October 2023.
Israel has killed more than 70,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children and wounded over 173,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry maintains detailed records viewed as reliable by the international community and the UN.
The shaky ceasefire, which came into effect on Oct. 10, has been tested by outbursts of Israeli violence killing 356 Palestinians. The first phase of the ceasefire has neared completion, though Hamas has still to hand over the remains of the last Israeli called for under the deal.
The Arab official said that talks are still ongoing over which countries will take part in the international force for Gaza, but that he expects deployment will begin in the first quarter of 2026.
A U.S. official gave a similar timeline, saying that “boots on the ground” could be a reality in early 2026. The official spoke to the AP on the same condition of anonymity.
The Arab official said that “extensive talks” will start immediately with Hamas and Israel on the details of the second phase, which he expects to be tough.
Those talks are expected the tackle the issue of disarming Hamas, a step the militant group has not yet agreed to. The plan also calls for Israeli occupation forces to withdraw from roughly half of the Gaza Strip that they still control as the international force deploys.
Funding for a rebuilding plan for the Gaza Strip still has not been determined. Some Palestinians have expressed concern over the apparent lack of a Palestinian voice in the body and the lack of a firm promise in the plan that they will eventually gain statehood.
Netanyahu's government rejects the creation of a Palestinian state, and the U.S.-brokered deal includes only a vague provision that a pathway toward statehood may be possible if certain conditions are met.
Arab and Muslim nations reject Israeli schemes
Israel announced on Wednesday that it plans to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the coming days, allowing Palestinians to leave the devastated strip, but without granting them the right to return to their homes, in violation of article 12 of the ceasefire agreement.
However, the governments of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar all expressed “deep concern” on Friday about the Israeli plan.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the eight countries said the Rafah crossing must be open in both directions to allow for “freedom of movement” for Palestinians.
They also expressed concern that if Palestinians were to leave Gaza, they might not be allowed to return.
The ministers underscored “their absolute rejection of any attempts to expel the Palestinian people from their land,” they wrote.
Cairo wants Palestinians to be able to return to Gaza through the crossing and says it would only be opened if movement is allowed both ways.
A rising death toll
In a new violation of the truce on Friday, Israel’s occupation army killed a man in northern Gaza.
Israeli forces also killed another man in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 38-year-old was shot by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank.
A United Nations report recorded 264 terrorist settler attacks in October 2025, the highest monthly total on record since the start of the Israeli occupation in 1967.
More than 1,020 Palestinians have been killed and over 10,000 wounded in the West Bank by Israeli occupation forces or settlers since the start of Tel Aviv's genocidal war on Gaza.
The killings mark the latest violence in the Palestinian territories, which has fueled concern that it could shake Gaza's fragile truce.
* This story has been edited by Ahram Online.
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