By GERSHON BASKIN JUNE 17, 2026 14:00 With the war with Iran hopefully coming to an end, US President Donald Trump and the Board of Peace must now return their full attention to Gaza.
The danger is clear: if Gaza is once again allowed to be under the bombardment of Israel and the terror of Hamas, if implementation is delayed until every political issue is resolved, then the ceasefire will officially come to an end, Hamas will try to control larger parts of the territory, Israel will remain inside Gaza, and the people of Gaza will continue to live without security, shelter, dignity, or hope.
The central unresolved issue remains Hamas’s disarmament. Hamas has refused to discuss disarmament until Israel complies with the terms of the ceasefire, including a full withdrawal from Gaza and international guarantees that hostilities will not resume. Therefore, Hamas has not yet formally accepted the plan placed before it.
But the people of Gaza cannot be held hostage to hesitation or endless negotiations. Even without a final Hamas agreement, the Board of Peace must begin now with concrete, visible, irreversible steps on the ground.
US President Donald Trump speaks during a charter announcement for his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts, alongside the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026. (credit: JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS) The first step should be the immediate entry of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza – the NCAG – into the Green Zone, which is presently under Israeli control and constitutes between 60%-70% of Gaza.
Gaza needs a legitimate Palestinian civilian authority that can begin to govern, organize services, restore basic public administration, and demonstrate to the people that there is an alternative to Hamas rule and Israeli military control. The NCAG should not remain a name on paper or a committee waiting outside Gaza. It must be functioning inside Gaza.
In parallel to the formal NCAG governance in Gaza, the process of moving the two million Gazans who are not Hamas militants or members of other armed groups into the Green Zone should begin under the authority of NCAG.
The only Gazans left in the Yellow Zone controlled by Hamas should be Hamas militants and other armed persons. Eventually, they will either disarm themselves or someone else will disarm them and take their weapons. Gaza will be demilitarized, and Israel will be forced to completely withdraw – these two steps go hand in hand.
Alongside the NCAG, the new Palestinian police force must be deployed immediately in the Green Zone. Law and order cannot be postponed until the end of the political process; it is the beginning of the process.
Gazans need to see uniformed Palestinian police protecting civilians, managing traffic, preventing looting, securing humanitarian facilities, and enforcing public order under the authority of the NCAG. A Gaza without functioning police will be a Gaza ruled by fear, armed clans, criminal networks, and Hamas intimidation.
At the same time, the International Stabilization Force should deploy along the Yellow Line, on the Green Zone side. The IDF and the Palestinian police must take up positions that make a practical and staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza possible. This is not only a security requirement; it is a political necessity.
Establishing clear lines
Israel will not withdraw while a vacuum of authority exists. Palestinians and the international community, including the Board of Peace, will not accept a future of permanent Israeli military presence.
The bridge between these two realities is a credible security arrangement: Palestinian police inside the Green Zone, the IDF along the Yellow Line, and a clear timetable for further Israeli withdrawal as stability expands.
The Board of Peace should now define this as the operational logic of the next phase: create secure Palestinian-administered areas, move civilians into them voluntarily and safely, provide services and employment, expand the Green Zone, and shrink the space controlled by Hamas and occupied by Israel.
Humanitarian zones must be established immediately inside the Green Zone. These cannot be merely tent cities. They must be planned temporary communities with shelter, water, sanitation, electricity, health clinics, schools, welfare centers, food distribution points, and safe public spaces.
Gaza’s people have suffered too much to be moved from one form of misery to another. The Green Zone must represent the beginning of a new Gaza: orderly, protected, administered by Palestinians, and connected to a larger political future.
Employment centers should be created at once. Every Gazan who is vetted and moves from the Hamas-controlled areas into the Green Zone should be offered work.
There is an enormous amount to do: clearing rubble, building temporary housing, repairing roads where possible and constructing new roads where needed, restoring water networks, reopenin…
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