The US-led Board of Peace will hold its first meeting later today to discuss the future of Gaza.
The meeting, around four months after the new body was formally announced as part of the latest ceasefire, will take place in Washington.
It will be chaired by US President Trump and feature a number of world leaders and senior politicians from across the globe.
King Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain will be the only leader of a Middle Eastern nation to attend the summit.
He will, though, be joined by the foreign ministers of Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey, among others.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been appointed to one of the board’s subordinate committees directing the work of an interim technocratic governance body, will also be in attendance.
Several European countries, including France and Spain, have declined to join the board, often citing the fact that Russia has been invited, while the UK has expressed similar concerns without ruling out its participation.
And Pope Leo has also rejected an invitation to sit on the board, citing “critical issues that should be resolved,” and insisting that the UN should be the preferred forum for resolving international crises.
The meeting’s agenda is expected to include the post-war governance and security arrangements in Gaza, as well as the funding for those initiatives.
The meeting follows a report in The Telegraph suggesting that the US is looking to recruit members of anti-Hamas organised crime groups in the Strip to staff its police force.
The gangs, some of which have been supported and armed by Israel to destabilise Hamas' rule from within, could be employed to replace the terror group’s law enforcement capabilities.
However, the report notes that the idea has resulted in “pushback” from American military commanders, who remain sceptical about the security implications.
Senior army figures are reported to have emphasised that the US-led wider peace process “will not work without reliable security partners”.
"There was significant pushback along the lines of ‘this is ridiculous – they’re not only criminal gangs, but they’re sponsored by Israel’,” one source told the paper.
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