Gaza truce plan entering phase two as governance body formed, US says

A US-BACKED plan to end the war in Gaza is moving into its second phase, Washington’s negotiator has said, as Palestinian factions agreed on the make-up of a post-war governing committee.

President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on X that phase two of the US leader’s 20-point plan would shift the Palestinian territory “from ceasefire to demilitarisation, technocratic governance and reconstruction”.

Under the plan brokered in October, Gaza would be run by a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee under the supervision of a “Board of Peace”, to be chaired by Trump himself.

Egypt said all the members of the committee had been agreed upon by all Palestinian factions.

Former Palestinian deputy minister Ali Shaath was named to lead the body, according to a joint statement by mediators Egypt, Turkey and Qatar. The mediators did not disclose the remaining names.

Speaking at a press conference in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said he hoped the committee would soon be deployed to Gaza to “manage daily life and essential services”.

Earlier in the day, a senior Hamas official told AFP the group was in talks with mediators in Cairo to address the formation of the committee and its operational mechanisms.

Later, Palestinian factions said in a joint statement that they supported mediators’ efforts to form a Palestinian National Transitional Committee.

The Palestinian presidency also announced its support in official media.

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Hamas has repeatedly said it does not seek a role in any future governing authority in the Palestinian territory, and would limit its role to monitoring governance to ensure stability and facilitate reconstruction.

Next steps

In Cairo, talks with Egyptian mediators also focused on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the reopening of the Rafah crossing, the entry of aid currently stockpiled on the Egyptian side of the border, and preparations for launching the second phase of the ceasefire plan, the Hamas official said.

Israel has said it would not begin talks on the second phase of the ceasefire until the return of the last hostage held in Gaza, Ran Gvili.

In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, together with Gvili’s family, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to honour his commitment” not to proceed to phase two until Gvili is brought home.

Netanyahu said he had spoken with Gvili’s parents and assured them the “move to establish a technocratic committee will not affect the efforts to return Ran”, though he offered no assessment of the committee itself or the progression to phase two.

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu, meanwhile, told AFP the group welcomed Witkoff’s announcement, adding “the factions will make every effort to ensure the success of the committee’s work”.

The second phase of the truce plan is also supposed to include Hamas’s disarmament, something the group has long refused to do.

The US-proposed Board of Peace is expected to be led on the ground by Bulgarian diplomat and politician Nickolay Mladenov, who has recently held talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Mladenov previously served as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process from early 2015 until the end of 2020.

Media reports say Trump is expected to announce the members of the Board of Peace in the coming days, with the body set to include around 15 world leaders.