Issue Brief on “Peace for Gaza? Assessing the Board of Peace”

In January 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump officially launched a new international body known as the Board of Peace, focusing on the Gaza Strip following the fragile ceasefire in the prolonged Israel-Hamas conflict. The Board reflects the Trump administration's strategy to reframe international peace governance outside traditional multilateral institutions, with a mechanism to supervise ceasefire implementation, govern reconstruction, and support the establishment of institutional stability in Gaza.

The Board of Peace originates from a broader 20-point U.S. peace plan aimed at transitioning Gaza from a conflict to a more stable post-war phase. A ceasefire agreed in late 2025 decreased widespread violence but left daily insecurity and humanitarian hardship unresolved. U.S. leadership cast the Board as a new diplomatic architecture to move beyond immediate ceasefire management toward longer-term stability, reconstruction, and governance support - tasks often reserved for established multilateral systems like the United Nations. Trump and his allies described it as a strategic platform to marshal resources, promote interstate coordination, and deliver results where traditional mechanisms have struggled.[1]

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