Tony Blair would help oversee Gaza transition under Trump plan

US President Donald Trump has said Sir Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, wants to join the international body overseeing Gaza under an American plan to end the war.

Sir Tony became the first named member of a new “Board of Peace” chaired by Trump, to be tasked with temporarily supervising Gaza’s governance if Hamas accept the plan. “Leaders from other countries” on the board will be named later, Trump said.

The board is part of a 20-point plan aimed at ending the nearly two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas – including a process of demilitarising and redeveloping Gaza.

Sir Tony said the plans were “the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering”.

A Palestinian source familiar with the ceasefire negotiations told the BBC that Hamas officials had been given the White House’s 20-point proposal.

Earlier, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the group remained open to studying any proposal that could end the war in Gaza, but stressed that any agreement must safeguard Palestinian interests, ensure a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and bring the war to an end.

Sir Tony, who was UK prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and who took the UK into the Iraq War in 2003, has been part of high-level talks with the US and other parties about the future of Gaza.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that involving Sir Tony, given his record on the Iraq War, “will raise some eyebrows”.

But Streeting also highlighted the integral role Sir Tony played in brokering the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end Northern Ireland’s Troubles.

“If he can bring those considerable skills there, in both diplomacy and state craft,” Streeting told the BBC, “that can only be a good thing”.

After leaving office, he served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of international powers (the US, EU, Russia and the UN). He focused on bringing economic development to Palestine and creating the conditions for a two state-solution.

In August, he joined a White House meeting with Trump to discuss plans for the territory, which US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff described as “very comprehensive” – though little else was disclosed about the meeting.

Under the plan, unveiled by Trump on Monday evening, the war would “immediately end” once both sides agreed to it.

It would also see all 20 living Israeli hostages and the remains of more than two dozen who are believed to be dead returned within 72 hours.

Israel would then release 250 life-sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans detained since the war began on 7 October 2023.

“Full aid” would immediately be sent to Gaza, the plan says. A multinational stabilisation force would deploy to support security and train local police. Israeli forces would withdraw in stages.

According to the text of the plan, “Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza.

“This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the ‘Board of Peace,’ which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

Hamas, the plan states, would have no role in governance, “directly, indirectly, or in any form”.

Trump said that if Hamas rejected the deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have his “full backing” to “do what you would have to do”.

The plan also leaves the door open to an eventual Palestinian state, but only if the Palestinian Authority carries out sweeping reforms.

The president also hit out at countries for “foolishly” recognising Palestine statehood – as the UK, Australia, Canada and France did last week.

Responding to the announcement, Sir Tony said: “President Trump has put down a bold and intelligent plan which, if agreed, can end the war, bring immediate relief to Gaza, the chance of a brighter and better future for its people, whilst ensuring Israel’s absolute and enduring security and the release of all hostages.

“It offers us the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering and I thank President Trump for his leadership, determination and commitment.

“In particular, his willingness to chair the Board of Peace to oversee the new Gaza is a huge signal of support and confidence in the future of Gaza, of the possibility of Israelis and Palestinians finding a path to peace and of the potential for a broader regional and global alliance to counter the forces of extremism and promote peace and prosperity between nations.”

The plan announced on Monday marks a shift from earlier ideas floated by the Trump administration. In February, Trump declared the US would take over the Gaza Strip and build a “riviera of the Middle East”

The idea would have involved the forced displacement of Palestinians in the territory and be in violation of international law, a step Sir Tony’s office vowed not to support.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 66,055 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

A UN-backed body recently confirmed that famine was taking place in Gaza City. Earlier this month, a UN commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza – which Israel strongly rejects.