Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has offered $7bn (£5.2bn) in funds to rebuild war-torn Gaza at the group’s first meeting, the US president has said.
The money was pledged by nine of the board’s member countries, while five nations agreed to send troops for an international stabilisation force for the territory, Mr Trump said after Thursday’s gathering in Washington DC.
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait have promised funds.
Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania pledged to send soldiers, who will initially be deployed to Rafah.
The city in southern Gaza is a major population centre where Washington hopes to base its first efforts at reconstruction.
Egypt and Jordan committed to train police.
As he thanked the donors, Mr Trump said that “every dollar spent is an investment in stability, and the hope of new and harmonious [region]”.
The board, he said, “is showing how a better future can be built right here in this room”.
An estimated $70bn (£52bn) is needed to rebuild the Palestinian territory decimated after two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
Mr Trump also announced the US was pledging $10bn (£7.4bn) for the board, but did not say where the money was coming from or what it will be used for.
Major General Jasper Jeffers, head of the newly-created International Stabilisation Force, said the plan calls for 12,000 police and 20,000 soldiers to “help bring the security that Gaza needs for a future of prosperity and enduring peace”.
The board was founded as part of Mr Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the conflict in the enclave, where the fragile ceasefire, agreed in October, is holding.
Photographs published on Thursday showed Muslims sitting down to the Ramadan fast-breaking iftar meal surrounded by rubble.
Since its launch in August, Mr Trump’s vision for the board has switched from bringing lasting peace between Israel and Hamas to helping solve conflicts across the globe, prompting accusations that he sees it as a potential rival to the UN.
Mr Trump dismissed such concerns, claiming instead that “it [the UN] is going to be much stronger, and the Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly”.
Around 50 countries attended the meeting, including the UK, which has not joined the board, but whose officials went as observers, along with those of Germany, Italy, Norway and Switzerland.
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Mr Trump said: “Almost everybody’s accepted, and the ones that haven’t, will be.
“Some are playing a little cute – it doesn’t work. You can’t play cute with me.”
The US president, who is sending a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East, warned Iran that “we have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise bad things happen”.
