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The EU executive, Russia, Belarus and Thailand were asked on Monday to join the U.S. president Donald TrumpA newly established peace committee will oversee the next phase of the peace process Gaza peace plan as priority Israel Officials said the initiative was “bad for Israel” and should be scrapped.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president Vladimir Putin Having received the invitation, the Kremlin is now “working out the details” and will seek to clarify “all nuances” when engaging the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs It said it had also been invited and was reviewing details.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has received the invitation and is ready to participate, according to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
European Commission spokesman Olof Geer confirmed that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had received the invitation and would speak on Gaza along with other EU leaders. Gill did not say whether he had accepted the invitation, but said the committee wanted to “contribute to a comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza.”
It’s unclear how many leaders have been invited to join the board. But Trump mentioned in his invitation that the agency would “take bold new approaches to solving conflicts around the world,” suggesting it could become a rival to the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful of the global organizations created after World War II.
A French official close to President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that France had no plans to join the peace council “at this stage” despite an invitation.
The official said the issue raised questions, particularly regarding respect for the principles and structures of the United Nations. He spoke anonymously, as is customary in French presidential administrations.
According to the World Bank’s Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) report for Gaza and the West Bank released last year, US$53 billion will be needed to rebuild the strip.
Israeli opposition to committee
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezarel Smotrich dismissed the peace council on Monday as an unfair deal for Israel and called for its dissolution.
“It’s time to explain to the president that his plan is bad for the state of Israel and to cancel it,” Smotrich said. “Gaza is ours and its future affects our future more than anyone else’s. We will take responsibility for what happens there, exercise military stewardship, and fulfill our mission.”
Smotrich, a hard-line opponent of the ceasefire in Gaza, even suggested that if Hamas does not comply with a “short-term ultimatum of genuine disarmament and exile,” Israel will launch a new all-out offensive in the region to destroy Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Monday that differences with the United States over the composition of an advisory committee for the next phase of Gaza would not damage his relationship with Trump.
“There will be no Turkish soldiers or Qatari soldiers in the (Gaza) Strip,” he said.
Netanyahu’s office said earlier that establishing an executive committee dedicated to realizing the peace council’s vision without coordinating with the Israeli government “violates its policy” without clarifying its objections. Unlike major regional rival Türkiye, Israel was not invited to join the committee.
final list
The United States is expected to announce its formal membership in the coming days, likely during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Board members will oversee an executive committee that will be responsible for implementing the second phase of the difficult Gaza peace plan, which includes deploying international security forces, disarming Hamas and rebuilding the war-torn territory.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the $1 billion donation would secure permanent membership on the council and that the funds would be used to rebuild Gaza. The details of the commission have not been made public as he was not allowed to speak publicly about it. There are no contribution requirements for the three-year appointment.
Details of how it will work remain unclear. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that Britain was discussing a peace commission with its allies. Although the UK has not yet revealed whether Starmer has been formally invited to join, he said there was a need to proceed with the second phase of the Gaza peace plan and that the UK had “expressed its willingness to play our part and we will do so”.
Running Gaza
Egypt’s top diplomat met on Monday with the leader of a newly appointed Palestinian technocratic council that will be responsible for day-to-day affairs in Gaza during the second phase of the peace plan.
Foreign Minister Badr Abdulati met with Ali Shaath, a Palestinian engineer and former official in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority who was appointed chief commissioner of the Gaza National Governing Council last week.
A statement from Egypt’s foreign ministry said Abdulati expressed the Egyptian government’s “full support” for the council and confirmed its role in managing daily affairs in Gaza before the Palestinian Authority takes over the territory.
He also stressed “the importance of preserving the unity of the Palestinian territories and ensuring geographical and administrative continuity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains fragile
The United Nations World Food Program said on Monday it had “significantly expanded” its operations in Gaza, providing hot meals and food parcels to more than 1 million people a month, 100 days after the ceasefire. But it warned that the situation remained “extremely fragile”.
The report states that malnutrition has been prevented in 200,000 pregnant and lactating women and children under 5 years old.
Nonetheless, the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis in December showed that 77% of the population faces crisis-level food insecurity.
Israeli troops enter Hebron
Israeli army and security forces have launched a massive counterterrorism operation in the West Bank city of Hebron to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure, eliminate illegal possession of weapons and strengthen security.”
The Israeli military said on Monday the operation was expected to last several days. Israeli armored vehicles and soldiers patrolled city streets and set up roadblocks where operations were carried out.
Hebron Mayor Khalid Dudin said Israeli forces attacked the area, home to 80,000 people, because it was preventing Israel from building more settlements.
Israeli military activity in the West Bank has surged since a Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war on October 7, 2023.
Three Palestinians killed
Israeli forces killed three Palestinians, including a teenager, in southern Gaza on Monday, hospital authorities said.
Two men were shot dead after crossing into Israeli-controlled territory east of Khan Younis, while 17-year-old Hussein Tawfiq Abu Sabara was shot dead in the Muwasi area of Rafah, according to Al-Nasser Hospital. It was unclear whether the teenager had entered or approached Israeli-controlled territory.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 460 people have been killed in Israeli fire since the ceasefire came into effect just over three months ago, and their bodies have been taken to hospitals.
The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that U.N. agencies and independent experts say are generally reliable
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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Grant Peck in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.
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For more AP coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war