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Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which was set up in January to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, has finally issued its first construction contract in the devastated territory: a project to build a rudimentary 150-person military outpost to house Moroccan troops, a source familiar with the matter told the Guardian.

The contract, which has not yet been finalised, was awarded to Arkel International, a Louisiana-based firm that has previously carried out work with the US government in countries such as Iraq.

The Board of Peace is chaired by the US president and led by a team that includes his son-in-law Jared Kushner and friend Steve Witkoff.

In an email, a Board of Peace official said the board and a group of Palestinian technocrats installed to oversee Gaza “are in the final stages of preparing several contract awards. None have been finalised.” The Palestinian group is known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

The official said “one prospective contract concerns facilities to support the international stabilisation force (ISF), which will assist in implementing the roadmap’s security and governance arrangements”.

They added: “This contract will be one of many that are essential for the future of Gaza.”

The award comes just days after Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to disarm, though there are considerable questions about how the group would give up its guns. Israel has opposed the plan, and increased airstrikes in Gaza after Trump’s announcement.

The Guardian reported in July that the board’s original Gaza reconstruction had shrunk dramatically from an ambitious blueprint to rebuild the whole territory to a small pilot project in the south of the strip.

The base now being planned is just 100 metres by 120 metres and is intended to house a contingent of Moroccan troops, who would rotate from a base in Israel, the source said. It would lie in the 60% of Gaza’s territory that the Israeli army directly controls. Israeli forces have also created a buffer zone beyond that area.

The Guardian | Aug 6, 2026

Ministers and security chiefs reportedly discussed yesterday how to deal with recent US-backed Board of Peace moves to go ahead with a roadmap for postwar Gaza, to which Jerusalem objects.

While the security cabinet approved having an International Stabilization Force enter Gaza to disarm Hamas and assume control of the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel did not agree to the terms of the disarmament plan, which was accepted by the terror group last week. Some ministers have publicly urged the premier to openly declare that he will not abide by the terms.

“Hamas agreed to the 15-point plan, but hasn’t abandoned the vision of destroying Israel,” warned Brig. Gen. Ofir Mizrahi-Rozen, head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s Research Department, according to the Israel Hayom daily.

Ministers and security chiefs reportedly discussed yesterday how to deal with recent US-backed Board of Peace moves to go ahead with a roadmap for postwar Gaza, to which Jerusalem objects.

While the security cabinet approved having an International Stabilization Force enter Gaza to disarm Hamas and assume control of the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel did not agree to the terms of the disarmament plan, which was accepted by the terror group last week. Some ministers have publicly urged the premier to openly declare that he will not abide by the terms.

“Hamas agreed to the 15-point plan, but hasn’t abandoned the vision of destroying Israel,” warned Brig. Gen. Ofir Mizrahi-Rozen, head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s Research Department, according to the Israel Hayom daily.

“It is apparent that there is a Hamas effort to put the ball in our court,” he added, warning of internationalizing the conflict by placing foreign forces, including from hostile states such as Turkey and Qatar, close to Israeli border towns.

Shin Bet chief David Zini reportedly said that Hamas signing the agreement “is a process of strategic deception aimed at buying time and ensuring we don’t return to [military] action in Gaza before the [October 27] election.”

“This is a strategic ambush by Hamas,” he asserted, according to the report.

According to the Ynet news site, Zini also said Hamas views the roadmap signing as a “diplomatic October 7,” equivalent to the military success of the 2023 invasion.

The Israel Hayom report adds that National Security Adviser Shmuel Ben Ezra said Israel has handed the US a list of corrections it is demanding to the roadmap, and that Netanyahu has said the roadmap contradicts November 2025 understandings reached with Washington.

He added that there is great pressure on Israel to withdraw to the original Yellow Line set last year — handing Israel control of 52 percent of the Strip, which it has since expanded to 70% — and to stop targeted strikes on terror officials.

Minister Ze’ev Elkin is quoted as calling for Israel to resume operations in Gaza in a way that makes clear that it does not accept the recent developments, which include a near-total 14-day freeze on military operations and strikes.

“If Israel doesn’t carry out offensive action for two weeks, the meaning is that we have accepted and entered the process. That’s why we need to publish that we are not signing these 15 points,” Elkin said.

The Times of Israel | Aug 7, 2026