Trump says Board of Peace will unveil $5 billion in Gaza reconstruction
pledges at inaugural meeting
[February 16, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that
members of his newly created Board of Peace have pledged $5 billion
toward rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza and will commit thousands of
personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the
territory.
The pledges will be formally announced when board members gather in
Washington on Thursday for their first meeting, he said.
“The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential
International Body in History, and it is my honor to serve as its
Chairman,” Trump said in a social media posting announcing the pledges.
He did not detail which member nations were making the pledges for
reconstruction or would contribute personnel to the stabilization force.
But Indonesia’s military said Sunday that up to 8,000 of its troops are
expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to
Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission. It's the first firm
commitment that the Republican president has received.
Rebuilding the Palestinian territory will be a daunting endeavor. The
United Nations, World Bank and European Union estimate that
reconstruction of the territory will cost $70 billion. Few places in the
Gaza Strip were left unscathed by more than two years of Israeli
bombardment.
The ceasefire deal calls for an armed international stabilization force
to keep security and ensure the disarming of the militant Hamas group, a
key demand of Israel. Thus far, few countries have expressed interest in
taking part in the proposed force.
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The Oct. 10 U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more
than 2-year war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest
fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out repeated
airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held
zones.
It is not clear how many of the more than 20 members of the Board of
Peace will attend the first meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who held White House talks with Trump last week, is not
expected to be there.
Trump’s new board was first seen as a mechanism focused on ending
the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. But it has taken shape with his
ambition for a far broader mandate of resolving global crises and
appears to be the latest U.S. effort to sidestep the United Nations
as Trump aims to reset the post-World War II international order.
Many of America’s top allies in Europe and elsewhere have declined
to join what they suspect may be an attempt to rival the Security
Council.
Trump also confirmed that Thursday's meeting will take place at the
U.S. Institute of Peace, which the State Department announced in
December it was remaining the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of
Peace.
The building is the subject of litigation brought by former
employees and executives of the nonprofit think tank after the
Republican administration seized the facility last year and fired
almost all the institute’s staff.
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