U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is preparing pilot “humanitarian zones” in southern Gaza to shelter vetted Palestinian civilians outside Hamas control, a source familiar with the details told JNS on Wednesday.
The pilot zones would be administered by the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) and secured by multinational troops from the International Stabilization Force (ISF), said the source, who is familiar with the planning.
The source said that after months of planning, requests for proposals had been issued for preparatory work, including an ISF base and a NCAG police camp.
Under the second phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan, Hamas terrorists are to cede power, Gaza is to be deradicalized and disarmed, and the ISF is to provide security in parts of the Strip currently held by the Israeli military before reconstruction begins.
However, top Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have rejected key parts of Trump’s plan for the next stage in recent months, including disarmament, despite having agreed to the proposal in October 2025.
Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly stressed that disarmament of Hamas and all other Palestinian terrorist groups is a precondition for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip under Trump’s plan.
The source familiar with the planning told JNS on Wednesday that the humanitarian pilot “should not be understood as reconstruction, or as a substitute for demilitarization.”
“The purpose is to create secure, humanitarian zones where civilians can access shelter and basic services outside Hamas control, while the broader process around governance, security and decommissioning continues,” the source stressed.
According to the source, Palestinians seeking to enter the zones would undergo a screening process designed to prevent terrorists from sheltering among noncombatants.
The screening would be carried out by NCAG, with support from the ISF, while the Israel Defense Forces would have “no contact with the civilian population” and “no role” in separating the humanitarian zones from the rest of Gaza, the source said, adding that “movement in and out of the zones will remain free for all unarmed civilians.”
The source declined to provide details on the timeline or planned locations of the pilot areas, saying implementation would depend on “final security, operational and political approvals.”
Earlier on Wednesday, a Board of Peace official told the AFP news agency that the body was planning a pilot zone in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah that would accommodate tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
“There’s one pilot project we’re looking at particularly, that maybe you can get the NCAG a starting point, you can enable tens of thousands to come if they wish voluntarily to this area, and you start giving them a space where they exercise effective governance, and they’re the administration,” the official stated.
The ISF would act as a “kind of buffer” separating the Palestinian population from the IDF, the official said.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not comment when asked by JNS on Wednesday night about the reported arrangement under which the IDF would have no role in screening Palestinians or administering the proposed humanitarian zones.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
