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Israel appears concerned over membership of Trump’s committee to rebuild Gaza

The board includes former prime minister Sir Tony Blair.

By contributor Ellie Ng and Helen Corbett, Press Association
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Supporting image for story: Israel appears concerned over membership of Trump’s committee to rebuild Gaza
The Israeli government said on Saturday that the executive committee was not co-ordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Israel appears to have expressed concern about the membership of US President Donald Trump’s executive committee which will lead efforts to rebuild Gaza.

Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair was listed alongside high-profile Trump administration officials as part of a “founding executive board” to lead long-term peace efforts in the Middle East, published by the White House on Friday.

This will be the operational arm of the Gaza “Board of Peace”, aimed at preventing future conflict in the territory, which will be chaired by Mr Trump and other serving world leaders who have not yet been named.

US President Donald Trump and former prime minister Tony Blair
US President Donald Trump and former prime minister Tony Blair pose for a photo at the Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt last year (Suzanne Plunkett/PA)

But the Israeli government said on Saturday that the executive committee “was not co-ordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy”, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given instructions to the foreign ministry to contact US secretary of state Marco Rubio.

Earlier Sir Tony had said he was “honoured” to be named as part of the team.

Other officials listed in the executive board included Mr Rubio, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Former UN special envoy Nickolay Mladenov was also named to the board, alongside billionaire Marc Rowan, World Bank president Ajay Banga and US deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are also on the board (Ludovic Marin via AP)

The White House said the founding executive board will help “operationalise the Board of Peace’s vision” and suggested the individual members would each hold specialist portfolios to help “stabilisation” efforts in Gaza.

The former Labour prime minister also appeared on a longer list of names as part of a separate “Gaza executive board”, the purpose of which appears to be advising a newly established interim government for the region.

Mr Trump said the US was launching “phase two” of its 20-point plan to end the Gaza conflict, which Mr Witkoff said would see the focus shift beyond a ceasefire and towards demilitarisation, technocratic governance and reconstruction.