Trump Gaza Roadmap Lists Agencies That Don't Exist
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- Trump's Board of Peace announced a "historic breakthrough" last Thursday — a 15-point roadmap in which Hamas would fully disarm and Israel would fully withdraw from Gaza.
- The roadmap does not specify which side moves first, and per the Washington Post, leaders of both Hamas and Israel said they would not act until the other side does.
- The document names three new bodies — the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the International Verification Committee (IVC), and the International Stabilization Force (ISF) — none of which have been stood up, vetted, or deployed, and the 14-day timetable does not begin until all parties approve the plan, which none have.
- The Board of Peace itself, created by Trump in September during the Israel-Hamas ceasefire signing, has produced no operational work on Gaza: Trump's charter gave him unilateral hiring, firing, and veto power; permanent membership was priced at $1 billion, which no country paid; and every UN Security Council member declined or ignored his invitation.
- On Friday, Hamas refused to take even a "first step" toward disarming without an end to Israeli attacks and then added further conditions; the next day, Israel renewed airstrikes on Gaza, killing at least two people and damaging warehouses holding medical supplies.
- Per Slate's account, the roadmap was largely drafted by Trump's envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, with no sign of input from professional Middle East negotiators.
Why it matters: A roadmap whose trigger condition — approval by all parties — has not been met by anyone, and whose enforcement bodies have not been stood up, cannot end a war. With Israeli airstrikes already resumed and Hamas conditioning disarmament on those strikes stopping, the rollout hands the White House a headline without changing the situation on the ground in Gaza, where the civilian consequences of the renewed bombardment are immediate.
