Trump says that members of the Peace Council promised to provide $5 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that members of his newly created peace council have pledged $5 billion to rebuild war-torn Gaza and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces in the Strip.

He added that the pledges will be formally announced when board members meet in Washington on Thursday for their first meeting.

“The Peace Council will prove to be the most important international body in history, and I am honored to serve as its president,” Trump said in a social media post announcing the pledges.

He did not provide details about the member states that have made reconstruction pledges or will contribute personnel to the stabilization force. But the Indonesian military said Sunday that up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for possible deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission. This is the first firm commitment received by the Republican president.

Rebuilding the Palestinian territories will be an arduous task. Estimates from the United Nations, the World Bank, and the European Union indicate that the reconstruction of the region will cost $70 billion. Only a few places in the Gaza Strip remain unscathed from the Israeli bombing that has continued for more than two years.

The ceasefire agreement calls for the formation of an armed international stabilization force to maintain security and ensure the disarmament of the armed Hamas movement, which is a major demand of Israel. So far, only a few countries have expressed interest in participating in the proposed force.

The US-brokered ceasefire agreement on October 10 attempted to stop the war that has been ongoing for more than two years between Israel and Hamas. While the intense fighting subsided, Israeli forces launched frequent air strikes and frequently opened fire on Palestinians near army-controlled areas.

It is not clear how many of the more than 20 Peace Council members will attend the first meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held talks at the White House with Trump last week, is not expected to attend.

Trump’s new board was initially seen as a mechanism focused on ending the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. But it has crystallized with his ambition for a much broader mandate to resolve global crises, and appears to be the latest American attempt to bypass the United Nations as Trump aims to reset the international order after World War II.

Many of America’s top allies in Europe and elsewhere have refused to join what they suspect may be an attempt to rival the Security Council.

Trump also confirmed that Thursday’s meeting would be held at the US Institute of Peace, which the State Department announced in December would remain the Donald Trump US Institute of Peace.

The building is the subject of a lawsuit filed by former employees and executives of the nonprofit think tank after the Republican administration took over the facility last year and fired nearly all of the institute’s employees.