STARMER EXPECTED TO JOIN BOARD TO OVERSEE GAZA – PM is expected to accept an offer to sit on a Trump-led board to run Gaza temporarily
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to accept an offer to sit on a U.S. President Trump-led board that would temporarily run Gaza, The Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The report cited a senior British official as saying the first meeting was expected to take place next week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Israel and Hamas in October signed off on Trump’s 20-point plan which says that a technocratic Palestinian body overseen by an international “Board of Peace” is meant to govern Gaza for a transitional period. It is not to include Hamas representation.
The first phase of Trump’s plan, which included a ceasefire and hostage release deal, has been shaken by issues including Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that have killed hundreds of people, a refusal by Hamas to disarm, the remains of one last Israeli hostage still not having been returned and Israeli delays in reopening Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Although the two sides accuse each other of breaching the deal, Trump says he wants to move on to the second phase, a progression that would entail the establishment of the Board of Peace and a yet-to-be-agreed deployment of peacekeeping forces.
