WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said his Board of Peace received roughly $17 billion in pledges toward humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in Gaza, and that more than half a dozen countries promised personnel to a stabilization force in the war-torn territory.

The announcements made Thursday during the group’s first meeting in Washington came as major questions remained over how to wrest control of the territory from Hamas. The U.S. would contribute $10 billion, Trump said, while a collection of other member states promised $7 billion. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about where the American funds would come from.

“We’re providing a model for how responsible sovereign nations can cooperate to take responsibility for confronting problems in their own regions,” Trump said. “With the commitments announced today, the Board of Peace is proving that it does not just convene countries. It devises and implements and real solutions happen.”

The board is an attempt by Trump to burnish his self-styled reputation as a peacemaker. He ran for office on a promise to keep the U.S. military out of overseas conflicts and has repeatedly claimed to have ended at least eight wars, though several were smaller in scale. Other claims involved conflicts where he had little role or that ended long ago. The gathering came as U.S. forces are amassing in the Persian Gulf for a potential strike on Iran, and weeks after he ordered a brazen military raid to capture Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

On Thursday, Trump provided little detail about how his planned stabilization force would wrest control of Gaza from Hamas, the militant group that has run the territory for decades with an iron fist, or how the money would be spent. Trump predicted that Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union, would “give up their weapons” and threatened it would be “harshly met” if its leaders refused.

The U.S. president said that Indonesia, Morocco, Albania, Kosovo and Kazakhstan would provide troops and police to the force in Gaza, and that Egypt and Jordan would offer personnel and training for a “trustworthy Palestinian police force.”

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Kuwait are among those who have promised “more than $7 billion toward the relief package,” Trump said. The U.S. president said Japan plans to hold a fundraiser for Gaza relief.

Still, the president’s remarks hinted at the deeper policy divides and personal grievances that might imperil the Board of Peace’s mission. After announcing that Norway would host a future board meeting, Trump took a jab at Oslo over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I thought they were going to just say that they’re giving me the Nobel Prize. Oh, this is less exciting,” Trump said.

The board was originally proposed as part of a 20-point peace plan for Gaza, conceived with overseeing its postwar stabilization and reconstruction. The U.S. president has promised to remake Gaza even as such an effort faces numerous obstacles, including uncertainty over whether Hamas will give up its arms and the scope and cost of clearing and rebuilding a territory shattered by conflict.

“Maybe we’re going to make a deal where you’re you’re going to be finding out over the next, probably 10 days,” Trump added. At the same time he downplayed ongoing clashes between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“The war in Gaza is over. It’s over. There are little flames,” Trump said.

Ali Shaath, head of the technocratic committee responsible for running Gaza, said the goal is to train an initial 5,000 police officers to deploy in the territory within 60 days. U.S. Army Major General Jasper Jeffers, head of the Gaza stabilization force, said that troops would first deploy to the Rafah area. He said in the long-term, authorities hope to employ 12,000 police and 20,000 soldiers.

Critics of the board have likened it to a slush fund that Trump would control. The president has said that countries seeking permanent membership on the board, of which he is the self-appointed chairman, would be required to contribute $1 billion.

Trump has also said Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to participate, straining relations with allies over Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Board of Peace, more broadly, has drawn reservations from some allies, worried about its makeup and a mission that appears to stretch well beyond Gaza.

Trump has suggested that the board could take on other global conflicts, raising worries in some foreign capitals that it could evolve into a rival to the United Nations, particularly over crises that are traditionally handled by the U.N. Security Council. Trump has long assailed the U.N. as ineffective.

Trump on Thursday hailed his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son—in-law Jared Kushner for their work in addressing numerous global flashpoints, including ongoing talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump said he was also making Kushner “an envoy of peace,” without explaining how the title would change his role.

Trump formally launched the Board of Peace during his visit to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum last month, alongside political allies such as Argentine President Javier Milei and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Key allies from the Group of Seven and E.U., however, kept their distance, cautious about embracing a new structure whose authority, legal basis and relationship to existing institutions remain murky.

Questions remain unresolved, including how the board’s decisions will be enforced, how it will coordinate with the U.N. and regional organizations and whether enough democratic U.S. allies will participate to give it legitimacy.

Trump on Thursday said the Board of Peace is “going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”

---------

—With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron and Skylar Woodhouse.

___

©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.