China and Turkey are latest to confirm receiving invitations

UAE, Belarus accept offer to join Trump’s Board of Peace; Norway, UK voice concerns

Qatar pushes back against Israeli criticism over its involvement, joins Abu Dhabi in endorsing plan as best option for Palestinians; Hamas officials said preparing to depart Gaza

The United Arab Emirates accepted an invitation to join US President Donald Trump’s newly proposed “Board of Peace,” the UAE Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, placing Abu Dhabi among the first governments to publicly endorse the initiative.

The ministry said the UAE stood ready to “contribute actively to the mission of the Board of Peace, supporting greater cooperation, stability, and prosperity for all,” marking a formal alignment with Washington’s new conflict‑resolution effort.

“The UAE’s decision reflects the importance of fully implementing President Donald J Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, which is critical for the realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed said.

Abu Dhabi’s acceptance comes as governments worldwide react cautiously to Trump’s plan, which aims to begin with Gaza before widening to tackle other conflicts.

The Board of Peace was initially presented as a body that would exclusively oversee the postwar management of Gaza, and, in November, the UN Security Council voted to give it a two-year mandate to do so.

But its charter, obtained by The Times of Israel earlier this week, makes no mention of Gaza and appears to take a swipe at the UN, saying that the new board should have “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.”

The document was attached to invitations to join the board that were sent to dozens of world leaders on Friday, some of whom have since confirmed receiving the invitation, although few have publicly accepted it, and fewer still have declined.

Hours after Abu Dhabi said it would accept the invitation, the office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed that he, too, would join the board of peace.

Lukashenko is a close ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, whose invitation to join the board raised eyebrows in Europe.

On Tuesday, China confirmed that it had been invited to join the Board of Peace, but did not specify whether it would accept. “China has received the United States’ invitation,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular news briefing.

In addition to the UAE and Belarus, Trump’s offer to join the Board of Peace has so far been accepted by Argentina, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Morocco, and Vietnam.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would soon decide whether to accept Trump’s invitation.

“We have received an invitation. Our president is being invited as a founding member, on behalf of Turkey, [and] will likely make his decision on this matter very soon,” Fidan said in a televised interview with state media.

Europe makes concerns known

Some leaders offered ambiguous responses to the invitation. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country was “ready to do our part,” while Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa had agreed “in principle” pending further details.

Less ambiguous was the United Kingdom, which on Tuesday flagged Trump’s invitation to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to join the board.

“We are concerned about reports that Putin and Lukashenko could be members of that board,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said, before the Belarusian leader confirmed that he would be joining.

“Putin is the aggressor in an illegal war against Ukraine, and he has shown time and time again he is not serious about peace,” the spokesperson added.

A day earlier, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel said that his country “cannot accept” the offer to join “at this stage,” over concerns shared by some European governments that the Board of Peace could undermine the work of the United Nations, which Trump has accused of not supporting his efforts to end conflicts around the world.

Likewise, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik told the daily Aftenposten on Tuesday that Oslo would not take part in the initiative in its current format. The Norwegian foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

By contrast, Qatar defended Trump’s vision for Gaza, saying there was “no alternative” to it.

“The Gaza Board of Peace is presenting a path,” said Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“The first stage of the deal being implemented doesn’t mean that the deal is done,” Al Thani warned, referring to the ceasefire in Gaza. “We have a lot of work to be done right now.”

“We are happy to be a contributor to peace and stability in our region,” he said of Qatar’s inclusion on the Board of Peace. “We have no alternative paths to seek right now.”

One of the most important things to focus on in Gaza right now, Al Thani said, is to “make sure that the withdrawal of Israeli forces is happening as soon as possible.”

Qatar pushes back

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was yet to confirm on Tuesday whether he would accept an invitation to join the board.

The premier has criticized Washington’s decision to place senior representatives from Turkey and Qatar on the Board of Peace’s operational arm for Gaza, confusingly called the Gaza Executive Board, making it unclear whether he would want to legitimize the panel’s makeup by joining the Board of Peace.

He admitted on Monday to an “argument” with the US over the “makeup” of the board, and portrayed the involvement of Qatar and Turkey as minimal, asserting that they were “barely members of an advisory committee of one of the three commissions, in which they don’t have any authority or any influence or any soldiers.”

Qatar appeared to push back against that depiction on Tuesday, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying that the country was “involved in consultations for the establishment of the Board of Peace” as well as being “involved in the mediation process and in contact with the US administration.”

“Israel’s objections do not bother us,” he said. “Israel’s position will not deter Qatar from carrying out its role, and we are in contact with the US on this issue. Qatar is committed to the success of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.”

Discussions over the makeup of the board are taking place against the backdrop of the US’s announcement last week that it was launching the second phase of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza war.

The second phase of the plan involves the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the establishment of a new technocratic Palestinian administration for the Strip.

To that end, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Tuesday that senior members of Hamas were preparing to depart the war-torn Strip after receiving guarantees that they would be able to leave safely during the second phase of Trump’s plan.

Citing a source from within the terror group, the newspaper reported that the exile of Hamas officials would be voluntary, and carried out in coordination with Hamas leaders abroad.

Several of the Hamas operatives expected to leave Gaza in the coming weeks are doing so after being appointed to leadership positions within the terror group’s politburo wing, based in Qatar, Asharq reported. Others still were reportedly due to depart for Turkey, which hosts a significant number of senior Hamas officials.