Trump plans first Peace Council meeting on Gaza in February – Axios

Administration of the US president Donald Trump plans to hold the first meeting of the heads of state of the Peace Council for the Gaza Strip on February 19. About this declares Axios media outlet, citing an unnamed U.S. official and diplomats from the four countries that make up the institution.

According to media reports, the White House wants to use the meeting to push forward the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and raise money for reconstruction.

"It will be the first Board of Peace meeting and a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction," said the US official.

However, plans for the summit are still in the early stages and are subject to change. The Trump administration declined to comment.

On February 6, the White House began reaching out to dozens of countries to invite their leaders and discuss logistics, Axios reports.

"Nothing has been confirmed yet, but the administration is planning it and has started checking which leaders are able to attend," said one of the interlocutors.

Unnamed Israeli officials said that the country's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to meet with the US president at the White House on February 18, the day before the Peace Council is scheduled to meet.

Netanyahu accepted Trump's invitation to the Council, but has not yet signed the organization's charter. If the Israeli PM attends the summit, it will be his first public meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders since the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists on his country and the war in Gaza.

Although the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in the sector has already begun, it is progressing very slowly.

In particular, the White House and other mediators – Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey –are in the early stages of trying to reach a demilitarization agreement with Hamas.

Israel has stated that without this, it will not withdraw its troops from Gaza and will not allow the reconstruction of the sector.

Netanyahu, who is very skeptical of the American plan for Gaza, claims that at their last meeting, in late December, Trump promised that the terrorist organization would have only 60 days to disarm, after which Israel could resume the war.

U.S. officials, on the other hand, deny this and say that demilitarization will take much longer. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in late January, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner presented a 100-day plan that included only initial demilitarization.

The creation of the Peace Council in Davos last month has caused widespread skepticism. Most of the US's Western allies have not joined the organization, in part because the charter gives the Council broad powers, and Trump has sole veto power over its decisions.

Some allies believed that Trump was trying to create an alternative to the UN Security Council.

The organization currently has 27 members and is chaired by the American president. The UN Security Council has authorized it to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza and to work on governance and reconstruction issues in the sector.

• President Zelenskyy says Ukraine will join the Peace Council only after the end of the war.

• The Peace Council is also mentioned in the 20-point draft peace plan to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.