WASHINGTON/CAIRO/GAZA/RAMALLAH/UNITED NATIONS - US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Board of Peace for Gaza has been established and that he is backing Palestinian leaders to govern Gaza during the transition.

"It is my Great Honor to announce that THE BOARD OF PEACE has been formed," Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. "The Members of the Board will be announced shortly."

In a separate post, Trump said that as chairman of the board, "I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Government, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, supported by the Board's High Representative, to govern Gaza during its transition."

"These Palestinian leaders are unwaveringly committed to a PEACEFUL future!" he said.

Trump said the United States is working with Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar to secure a comprehensive demilitarization agreement with Hamas, including the surrender of all weapons and the dismantling of its tunnel network.

"Hamas must IMMEDIATELY honor its commitments, including the return of the final body to Israel, and proceed without delay to full Demilitarization," Trump said, warning that Hamas "can do this the easy way, or the hard way" but "time is NOW".

Trump's remarks came one day after his special envoy Steve Witkoff announced the launch of the second phase of the Gaza peace deal, which focuses on demilitarization, technocratic governance and reconstruction of the conflict-torn Gaza Strip, and stipulates that the Board of Peace will be chaired by Trump himself.

Palestinian technocratic committee

Meanwhile, all members of the newly formed Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with administering the Gaza Strip have arrived in Egypt and begun meetings in preparation for their entry into the enclave, Egypt's state-run Al-Qahera News channel reported.

Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye announced on Wednesday the formation of the committee, describing the move as an important development toward enhancing stability and improving humanitarian conditions in the enclave. The announcement followed a Cairo meeting of Palestinian factions that reaffirmed commitment to the truce and called on Israel to halt its aggression and open crossings.

The committee, headed by Ali Abdel Hamid Shaath, a veteran engineer and former deputy planning minister in the Palestinian Authority, arrived, Al-Qahera News quoted Egyptian sources as saying.

An Egyptian source told Xinhua the arrival was delayed by a day due to Israeli obstruction.

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Also on Thursday, Hamas reaffirmed its readiness to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a newly formed Palestinian technocratic committee and facilitate its mission.

"Hamas welcomed the formation of the committee and announced its readiness to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to the national transitional committee and facilitate its mission," senior Hamas official Basem Naim said in a statement.

Naim called the formation of the committee "an important step in implementing the agreement and a step in the right direction, both in terms of consolidating the ceasefire and avoiding a return to war, and in terms of alleviating the catastrophic humanitarian crisis and paving the way for comprehensive reconstruction".

Temporary constitution

Work is underway to draft a temporary constitution and a political parties law in preparation for upcoming elections, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday.

"The State of Palestine would be democratic, based on equal citizenship, political pluralism, freedom of expression, the formation of political parties, the rule of law, good governance, human rights, integrity, and equality, with one system, one law, and one legitimate weapon," Abbas said during a speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to the Palestinian official news agency WAFA.

Israeli authorities' unlawful entry into UN property

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the Israeli authorities' unlawful entry into a UN property in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday and the order of its temporary closure, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN chief, said in a statement.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Jerusalem Health Centre, which serves hundreds of Palestine refugee patients every day, is, for most of them, their only possibility of having access to primary healthcare, the statement said.

The statement said the action follows the seizure by the Israeli authorities of the UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah compound and the adoption and amendment by the Israeli parliament of the Law to Cease UNRWA Operations in the Territory of the State of Israel. The secretary-general expressed his grave concerns to the Israeli prime minister and has brought those actions to the attention of the president of the UN General Assembly and the president of the Security Council.

Eighty Palestinians arrested

Palestinian sources said on Thursday that Israeli authorities arrested 80 Palestinians, demolished a house, and barred the Palestinian Authority's minister of Jerusalem affairs from entering the West Bank.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a non-governmental organization, said in a press statement that the Israeli army launched widespread arrest and field interrogation operations from Wednesday evening until Thursday morning, targeting 80 Palestinians, including a woman, two children, and former detainees.

The statement said the arrests and field interrogations took place in most West Bank cities, with a concentration in Hebron and Jenin. It added that Israeli forces have escalated arrest and interrogation operations at an increasing pace since the beginning of 2026.

The Israeli army conducts near-daily arrest and raid campaigns in the West Bank, targeting Palestinians it describes as "wanted," while Palestinians say the operations often target civilians.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces demolished the home of 18-year-old Palestinian Imran al-Atrash in Hebron, in the southern West Bank, according to Palestinian security sources.

The sources told Xinhua that Israeli forces stormed the Khallat Nafisa area of Hebron, sealed it off, and raided the al-Atrash family's one-story house, forcing the family to evacuate before demolishing it with bulldozers.

READ MORE: Hamas signals readiness to hand over Gaza governance

In addition, the Israeli military said it had killed a Palestinian militant in southern Gaza, while Palestinian officials reported multiple civilian deaths from Israeli fire and airstrikes across the enclave.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that its troops identified an individual who crossed the "Yellow Line", a demarcation marking Israeli-held territory under the first phase of the current ceasefire agreement. The military said the person approached soldiers in a manner that posed an "imminent threat", prompting them to open fire.

WAFA reported that Israeli forces fired on civilians near Al-Alam junction, south of the Al-Mawasi area in Rafah, killing two people. Recovery of the bodies was reportedly delayed by the volatile security situation.

Further north, WAFA said at least six Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed late Thursday when Israeli airstrikes struck two residential homes in Deir al-Balah.