Who will lead Gaza under new US-backed plan?

Palestinian engineer Ali Shaath will lead the technocratic committee governing Gaza on an interim basis.

He is part of the Gaza Executive Board, announced by the White House, which will function under the wider Board of Peace, chaired by US President Donald Trump and several other heads of state.

According to the White House statement, the Executive Board will include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Special Envoy Steve Witkoff; President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; former British prime minister Tony Blair; Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; senior Qatari official Ali al-Thawadi; Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Hassan Rashad; American billionaire Mark Rowan; UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem al-Hashimy; former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov; Israeli real estate tycoon Yakir Gabay; and UN official Sigrid Kaag.

Mladenov, who previously served as the UN’s Middle East envoy, has been appointed senior representative for Gaza. In this capacity, he will act as the primary liaison between the Board of Peace and the Palestinian technocratic administration. An additional Gaza directorate will be established to support his work.

President Trump publicly referenced the formation of the Board of Peace roughly a day after his envoy Steve Witkoff announced the transition to Phase Two of the plan, outlining Gaza’s future and the end of the war. “It is a great honour for me to announce that the Board of Peace has been established,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Under the US plan, the Trump-chaired Board of Peace is designed to oversee the governance and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip through a committee of 15 senior Palestinian professionals who have already been approved by Israel. These committee members will manage Gaza’s daily administration, including sanitation, infrastructure, and education. Alongside this civilian structure, a multinational military “stabilisation force” is expected to operate in the Strip to maintain order, ensure security, and prevent violations.

Ali Shaath told the Palestinian radio station Basma on the morning of January 17 that he expects reconstruction to take seven years. He noted that an ambitious plan is being prepared, which includes transferring war debris into the Mediterranean Sea.

On January 15, Witkoff announced on X the “launch of the second phase of the president’s 20-point plan to end the conflict in Gaza, moving from a ceasefire to demilitarisation, technocratic governance, and reconstruction.”

By Tamilla Hasanova