The Trump administration plans to host leaders from the Board of Peace in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19, Axios reported on Friday night.
“Nothing has been confirmed yet, but the administration is planning it and has started checking which leaders are able to attend,” said one source, who did not identify by name.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accepted an invitation to join the board, is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump in the U.S. capital on Feb. 18, according to the report.
The Israeli premier has not yet signed the charter to join the Board of Peace.
The board’s meeting is meant to advance Phase 2 of Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip, Axios reported. The second phase involves the disarming of Hamas in the area that it holds west of the so-called Yellow Line that runs through the Strip, and the reconstruction of the devastated territory after two years of war.
“It will be the first Board of Peace meeting and a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction,” a U.S. official was quoted as saying.
The Israeli government has remained adamant that the reconstruction phase will begin only after Hamas lays down arms. Although a technocratic Palestinian government—the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG)—to run civil matters in Gaza has been established, it has been operating thus far from Egypt. The Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Sinai had reopened on Feb. 1, but only a small number of individuals have been entering or exiting.
On Jan. 22, Trump signed the charter for the Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, marking the formal commencement of Phase 2 of the administration’s Gaza peace initiative.
According to the Trump administration, the signing ceremony, attended by regional leaders and global financial executives, transitions the focus of the U.S. strategy from the current ceasefire toward “demilitarization, reconstruction and civil administration” of the Gaza Strip.
