It has been a year since US President Donald Trump’s Peace Board (BoP) negotiated a “ceasefire” aimed at ending Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. However, instead of receiving aid and a chance to rebuild, Palestinians in the enclave continue to face attacks and be uprooted as Israeli forces have expanded control within the territory. peace. In November, a United Nations Security Council resolution recognized the junta as a “transitional administration” in Gaza. But what has the board achieved? Here’s what we know: People search through the rubble of a collapsed building following overnight Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on October 9, 2026, before which the Israeli army had warned residents to evacuate the area (AFP) What were the BoP’s objectives? The BoP’s mission was laid out in Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, as was the “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. The ceasefire began on October 10, 2025. The plan envisioned measures each side was to take that could eventually create a “credible path” toward the creation of a Palestinian state. It required Israeli forces to withdraw to about 50 percent of the Gaza Strip and cease aerial and artillery bombardment. It also required Israel to release 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 other people imprisoned in Gaza since October 7, 2023, the day Hamas led attacks on southern Israel and Israel started the war. The plan proposed reopening border crossings to allow much-needed aid into Gaza. The peace plan called for Hamas to release all Israeli captives. He also proposed a later phase in which the group would be disarmed and its members granted amnesty or a safe exit from Gaza. The peace plan established the BoP as a transitional governing body until the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, could take over. A US-led International Stabilization Force (ISF) was supposed to take over security in Gaza following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, according to the plan. He also proposed the reconstruction and redevelopment of Gaza, whose people, he said, “have already suffered enough.” What has the BdP done last year? In February, BoP members, each of whom joined in exchange for an annual fee of $1 billion, met in Washington, D.C., for their first summit, at which member states pledged $7 billion in funding, although aid agencies said rebuilding Gaza would cost about $70 billion. On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month, the BOP also unveiled a recovery plan for 66 projects worth $2.4 billion. What has the BoP achieved? The BoP’s achievements are linked to the success of the Gaza peace plan. As a result, Hamas has freed the 168 living captives and Israel has freed the Palestinian prisoners. Hamas has also announced the dissolution of its government in the Gaza Strip, although Israel has dismissed it as a “stunt.” Other objectives of the peace plan have only partially been met. hindered. While a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) was founded, intended to act as the governing authority in Gaza, it has not been granted entry to the Strip by Israel. The NCAG reports directly to the junta and is led by Chief Commissioner Ali Shaath and other Palestinian technocrats. Operates from Cairo. Israel has not stated why the committee is not allowed to enter Gaza. Aid remains restricted. About 227 aid trucks enter the Strip daily when 600 trucks were supposed to, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) hunger monitor. Israel has classified thousands of essential items, such as tents and essential equipment such as ventilators, as “dual-use” items, meaning they have military and civilian applications, and has restricted their flow into the Strip. Around 1.4 million Palestinians – or the majority of Gaza’s more than 2 million inhabitants – will suffer from hunger at least until December, the CPI has noted. That’s 200,000 more than those who were hungry in May, suggesting a significant deterioration in the situation. What has not been achieved? Observers argued that the balance of payments has failed to guarantee the “ceasefire” as Israeli attacks have continued almost daily in the Strip. Since October 10, 2025, more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed. In the three years since the war began, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more are missing and presumed dead under the rubble. Israel says its continued attacks target Hamas members, but the group vehemently denies those claims. Israel also now occupies about 60 percent of the Strip, more than the 50 percent agreed upon in Trump’s peace plan. The “Yellow Line,” which demarcates the area of Gaza under Israeli occupation, has been pushed further into the Strip, causing further displacement and squeezing Gaza’s population into an increasingly smaller area. Palestinians who unknowingly crossed the “Yellow Line” have been shot dead. In December, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army “will never completely abandon” the Strip. Mohamad Elmasry of the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies told Al Jazeera that Israel is simply continuing a broader policy of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. “They are making life miserable,” he said, adding: “This is all intentional.” Consequently, the BoP has also failed to ensure that Hamas disarms so that phase two of the peace plan can begin. Although Hamas has agreed to hand over its weapons to the NCAG, it rejects the “disarmament” clause because Israel has not ceased its attacks or withdrawn from the Strip as agreed. At the same time, Israel has said it will not go ahead with the plan if Hamas does not disarm, leaving both sides in a stalemate. Meanwhile, no stabilization forces have been deployed. Six countries – Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Albania, Kosovo and Uganda – have so far committed personnel to form a security force of 20,000 soldiers and 12,000 police led by the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM). There has been no significant reconstruction in Gaza. Palestinians continue to live in camps infested with rodents and insects, with little to protect them from the intense heat or rain. Will BoP replace UNRWA? The Trump administration and the BoP have echoed Israel’s rejection of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which has long provided humanitarian aid, education, development programs and life-saving social services in Gaza and employs some 11,000 Palestinians. The BoP said last month that it will not work with UNRWA. essentially marginalizing the agency. A BoP official told the Associated Press news agency that UNRWA could continue working in Gaza if its programs were deemed relevant, but the agency’s “days are over.” UNRWA said the move was “not logical.” UN analysts and human rights groups have expressed concern that the BoP could take charge of all aspects of Gaza’s reconstruction. There are also countries, including France and other European nations, that have denounced any attempt to replace the UN in the Strip. But Elmasry said no country is willing to take action. “There are many international actors who do not want to cross the United States,” he said. That essentially leaves the fate of more than 2 million Palestinians in Trump’s hands, he added. Ultimately, the balance of payments has “failed,” said Simon Mabon, a professor at Lancaster University. “The failure to implement its own plan to end the Gaza conflict demonstrates its impotence and inability to ensure that Israel and, to a lesser extent, Hamas, remain bound by its own commitments. [and] has allowed the genocide to continue,” he concluded.
