Trump's Board of Peace has several invited leaders trying to figure out how it'll work

Israel has been asked to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace that will supervise the next phase of the Gaza peace plan, an Israeli official said Monday, while France is holding off accepting for now.

It’s not known whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the offer, said the Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a behind-the-scenes diplomatic matter.

Russia, Belarus, Slovenia, Thailand and the European Union’s executive arm also were among the latest to receive invitations.

It’s unclear how many leaders have been asked to join the board, and the large number of invitations being sent out, including to countries that don’t get along, has raised questions about the board’s mandate and decision-making processes. Also unknown is Israel’s potential role on a board in charge of implementing the ceasefire agreement that directly involves them.

A Trump reference in the invitation letters saying that the body would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict” suggested it could act as a rival to the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful body of the global organization created in the wake of World War II.

France, though, does not plan to join the Board of Peace “at this stage” despite receiving an invitation, a French official close to President Emmanuel Macron said Monday. The issue is raising questions, particularly with regard to respect for the principles and structure of the United Nations, said the official, speaking anonymously in line with the French presidency’s customary practices.

Told late Monday that Macron was unlikely to join, Trump said, “Well, nobody wants him because he's going to be out of office very soon.”

“I'll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes and he'll join,” Trump told reporters in Florida before a flight back to Washington. “But he doesn't have to join.”

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI accepted a spot Monday, becoming the first Arab leader and at least the fifth world leader to join. Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Hungary and Argentina also have signed on.

Russian President Vladimir Putin received the invitation, and the Kremlin is now “studying the details” and will seek clarity of “all the nuances” in contacts with the U.S., said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Trump confirmed Monday night that Putin had been invited.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is ready to take part, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry. The Thai Foreign Ministry said it was invited and reviewing the details.

European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said that Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the commission, would be speaking to other EU leaders about Gaza. Gill didn't say whether its invitation had been accepted, but that the commission wants "to contribute to a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict.”

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday dismissed the Board of Peace as a raw deal for Israel and called for its dissolution.

“It is time to explain to the president that his plan is bad for the State of Israel and to cancel it," Smotrich said. "Gaza is ours, its future will affect our future more than anyone else’s. We will take responsibility for what happens there, impose military administration, and complete the mission.”

Smotrich, a hard-liner who opposed the Gaza ceasefire, even suggested that Israel renew a full-scale offensive on the territory to destroy Hamas if it doesn't abide by a “short ultimatum for real disarmament and exile.”

Netanyahu said later on Monday that while there are differences with the U.S. about the composition of the advisory committee accompanying the next phase in Gaza, it would not harm his relationship with Trump.

“There will not be Turkish soldiers and Qatari soldiers in the (Gaza) Strip,” he said.

Netanyahu's office earlier said the formation of an executive board that will work to carry out the vision of the Board of Peace wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli government and “is contrary to its policy” without clarifying its objections. Turkey, a key regional rival, is among those invited to join the committee.

The U.S. is expected to announce its official list of members in the coming days, likely during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Board members will oversee an executive committee that will be in charge of implementing the tough second phase of the Gaza peace plan that includes the deployment of an international security force, disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction of the war-devastated territory.

A $1 billion contribution secures permanent membership on the board, with the money going to rebuild Gaza, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity about the charter as he wasn’t permitted to speak publicly about details of the board, which hasn't been made public. A three-year appointment has no contribution requirement.

According to the World Bank’s Gaza and West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) report released last year, it’ll take $53 billion to rebuild the strip.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday the United Kingdom is talking to allies about the Board of Peace.

Egypt’s top diplomat on Monday met with the leader of the newly appointed committee of Palestinian technocrats who will be running Gaza’s day-to-day affairs during the second phase.

Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty met with Ali Shaath, a Palestinian engineer and former official with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, who was named last week as chief commissioner of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

Abdelatty expressed the Egyptian government’s “complete support” of the committee and affirmed its role in running Gaza’s daily affairs until the Palestinian Authority takes over the territory, said a statement from the Egyptian ministry.

The U.N. World Food Program on Monday said it has “significantly expanded” its operations across Gaza 100 days into the ceasefire, reaching more than a million people each month with hot meals and food parcels. But it warned the situation remains “extremely fragile.”

It noted that malnutrition has been prevented for 200,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as children under 5.

The most recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, which assessed the situation in October and November, indicated that 77% the population was facing crisis-level food insecurity.

Israeli military and security forces launched what they called a large-scale counterterrorism operation in the West Bank city of Hebron to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure, eliminating illegal weapons possession and strengthening security."

The Israeli military said Monday the operation is expected to continue for several days. Israeli armored vehicles and soldiers patrolled city streets and put up barriers where operations were being conducted.

Hebron Mayor Khaled Dudin said Israeli forces targeted the area that's home to 80,000 people because it obstructs the construction of additional Israeli settlements.

Israeli forces on Monday killed three Palestinians, including a teenager, in southern Gaza, hospital authorities said.

Two men crossed into Israeli-controlled areas east of Khan Younis before being shot dead, while 17-year-old Hussein Tawfiq Abu Sabalah was shot and killed in the Muwasi area of Rafah, according to the Nasser hospital. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the teen had crossed into or came close to the Israeli-controlled area.

More than 460 people were killed by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect just over three months ago, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

This story was first published on Jan. 19, 2026. It was updated on Jan. 20, 2026, to make clear that the IPC figure cited was released in December but assessed the situation in October and November.

Associated Press writers Josef Federman and Sam Metz in Jerusalem, Jill Lawless in London, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Grant Peck in Bangkok, Thailand contributed to this report.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Palestinians speak with an Israeli soldier during an army raid in the West Bank city of Hebron Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Ali Shaath, head of Palestinian National committee for administering the Gaza Strip, left, meets with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, at the foreign ministry headquarters in Egypt's New Administrative Capital, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Khaled Elfiqi)

Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army raid in the West Bank city of Hebron Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army raid in the West Bank city of Hebron Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army raid in the West Bank city of Hebron Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s president has warned that the Taliban's government in Afghanistan has created conditions “similar to or worse than” those before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a sign of rising tensions with Kabul after last week’s mosque attack in Islamabad, which analysts said Monday highlights militants’ reach to the capital.

Asif Ali Zardari made the remarks while thanking the international community for condemning Friday's suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed 31 worshippers and wounded 169. Without directly blaming India, Zardari also said Pakistan’s eastern neighbor was “assisting the Taliban regime and threatening not only Pakistan but regional and global peace.”

In a statement issued Sunday, Zardari said Pakistan “takes strong exception to the situation in Afghanistan where the Taliban regime has created conditions similar to or worse than pre-9/11, when terror organizations posed threats to global peace.” He added that Pakistan had long maintained terrorism cannot be confronted by any single country in isolation.

The unusually strong comments were likely to irk Kabul and New Delhi, both of which have condemned the suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group and have denied any involvement.

The previous Afghan Taliban government, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, had been blamed for sheltering the al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden who was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in the United States. The Afghan Taliban also allowed al-Qaida to operate training camps within Afghanistan, despite international warnings. However, bin Laden was killed during a U.S. commando operation in Pakistan in May 2011.

Last week, Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry and New Delhi, in separate statements, rejected the Pakistani allegations, saying Islamabad had irresponsibly linked them to the attack.

Pakistan frequently accuses the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in August 2021 in Afghanistan, of backing militants including the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Both deny the accusations.

There was no immediate response from India or Afghanistan to Zardari’s latest allegations, which came after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the bomber involved in the attack was a Pakistani and trained by the IS group in Afghanistan.

Naqvi said security forces had arrested four suspects, including an Afghan national accused of links to the militant group and of helping mastermind the attack. The detainees included the bomber’s mother and brother-in-law, according to officials who said investigations into the attack were still ongoing.

Pakistan has not shared full details about the involvement of the bomber’s family, however.

On Monday, Naqvi received telephone calls from his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi and European Commissioner Magnus Brunner, who condemned the mosque attack. According to a government statement, Naqvi maintained that “Pakistan is a shield for the world against terrorism and emphasized that strong global-level measures are needed today to protect the world from terrorism”.

Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former special representative for Afghanistan, said Zardari’s warning was “unambiguous: terrorism thrives where it is tolerated, facilitated, or used as a proxy.” He wrote on X that “allowing terrorist groups to operate from Afghan soil and India’s use of proxies to destabilize Pakistan is a dangerous path with grave regional and global consequences.” Durrani added, “Peace demands responsibility, not denial.”

Another Islamabad-based analyst, Abdullah Khan, said the preliminary findings into the mosque bombing suggest the attack may reflect a pattern seen in some IS attacks involving close family networks. He said the IS affiliates have at times recruited entire families, pointing to past attacks in Pakistan and Indonesia.

Although Islamabad has seen fewer attacks than some other regions, Pakistan has experienced a recent rise in militant violence, much of it attributed to Baloch separatist groups and the TTP, which is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban.

The Islamic State’s regional affiliate, a major Taliban rival, has carried out attacks across Afghanistan.

Mourners arrange the coffins of the victims of Friday's suicide bombing inside a Shiite mosque, during a funeral prayer, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Shiite Muslims hold a demonstration in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, to condemn Friday's suicide bombing inside a Shiite mosque in Islamabad. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Shiite muslims hold a placard during a protest in Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, against Friday's suicide bombing inside a Shiite mosque in Islamabad. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)