Trump says Gaza Board of Peace announcement expected early next year

US President Donald Trump has said that an announcement on which world leaders will serve on the Gaza Board of Peace should be made early next year.

Trump told reporters during an economic event in the White House Roosevelt Room that several leaders have expressed interest in joining the board, which was established under the US-brokered Gaza plan that set up a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

"We'll do it early next year, and the Board of Peace are going to...it'll be one of the most legendary boards ever," he told reporters at the White House.

"They want to all do it. Basically, it'll be the heads of the most important countries. They all want to be on (it)."

Weapons ‘freeze’

Hamas, meanwhile, signalled openness to a weapons "freeze" but rejected the full disarmament demanded in the plan.

In an interview aired by Al Jazeera, senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said: "The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance. What is being proposed is a freeze, or storage of weapons, to provide guarantees against any military escalation from Gaza with the Israeli occupation."

Meshaal said mediators were discussing the idea and that "with pragmatic American thinking... such a vision could be agreed upon with the US administration."

Hamas has said it will not agree to giving up its arsenal.

"Disarmament for a Palestinian means stripping away his very soul. Let’s achieve that goal another way," Meshaal said.

The ceasefire, in effect since 10 October, halted the carnage that began in October 2023. The agreement consists of three phases and remains fragile, with Israel repeatedly violating the ceasefire.

In phase one, the Palestinian resistance group committed to releasing the remaining 48 living and dead captives held in Gaza.

All have been released except for one body.

Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and returned the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians.

Meshaal said Hamas could accept international forces along Gaza’s border with Israel, similar to UNIFIL in southern Lebanon, but not inside Gaza, calling such a presence an "occupation."

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Source: TRT