Paraguay's President Santiago Pena (2L), Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (5L), Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani (C-R), Argentina's President Javier Milei (5R), Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (4R), Bulgaria's former Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (3R), Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (2R) and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) applaud as US President Donald Trump (C) holds a signing founding charter at the "Board of Peace" meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 22, 2026. (Credit: Mandel Ngan / AFP)
The head of the Palestinian technocratic committee formed to handle day-to-day governance of Gaza, Ali Shaath, was in Washington Thursday to attend the inaugural "Board of Peace" meeting, two Palestinian officials told AFP.
"Ali Shaath ... arrived in Washington at dawn today to participate in the Washington meeting of the Board of Peace," a source familiar with the committee told AFP.
"Shaath is scheduled to deliver a speech outlining the general framework of his plan for the first 100 days. He is accompanied by the committee's official in charge of the finance portfolio," the source added.
A committee member confirmed to AFP that Shaath had arrived "following an invitation he received yesterday to attend the Washington meeting."
Around two dozen world leaders and senior officials have travelled to Washington for the inaugural meeting of the "Board of Peace," which was set up after the Trump administration, along with Qatar and Egypt, negotiated a ceasefire in October to halt two years of war in Gaza.
At Thursday's meeting, Trump is expected to detail pledges of more than $5 billion for Gaza.
The Trump administration asked the member state representatives to disclose their financial or practical contribution to the Gaza plan in their inaugural speeches, according to a document distributed ahead of the meeting and obtained by Haaretz.
The meeting will also look at how to launch the International Stabilization Force that will ensure security in Gaza.
This peacekeeping force will be based, according to information obtained by The Guardian, in a large military base in the South of the strip, for which the Trump administration is advancing construction plans.
According to The Guardian, the base will have a footprint of 1,400 meters by 1,000 meters – roughly 350 acres. Able to house up to 5,000 troops belonging to the International Stabilization Force (ISF), the base will include more than two dozen watch towers, a firing range, warehouses for military equipment needed to conduct the ISF's mission and a network of underground shelters.
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