US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has said it plans to set up a “pilot” zone in southern Gaza to accommodate “tens of thousands” of Palestinians in an area under the control of Israeli troops.The proposal comes after months of fruitless attempts to advance a US-backed plan to rebuild the devastated Palestinian enclave, which has remained in ruins since a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October brought the worst of the fighting to an end.Israel has continued to occupy more than half of the territory, routinely razing structures and even building a kilometres-long earthen mound to separate the rest of Gaza, where the majority of the 2.1 million population live under Hamas control.The Board of Peace’s plan for a “humanitarian and governance zone” in Rafah echoes an idea long pushed by Israeli and US officials to funnel vetted Palestinian civilians into controlled sites in Gaza under Israeli military oversight – a model denounced by humanitarian organisations.It comes as broader talks to advance the peace plan for Gaza have stalled. Hamas has so far refused to disarm, a precondition for reconstruction under the deal, and billions of dollars in international funds pledged to the Board of Peace have not materialised.A multinational peacekeeping force envisioned for the enclave – known as the International Stabilization Force (ISF) – has not been raised, while a committee of Palestinian technocrats meant to take over governance is yet to enter the strip.Israel has routinely conducted air strikes in Gaza against what it says are Hamas militants, killing more than 1,000 people since the ceasefire came into effect. This has included more than 250 children as of June, according to Unicef.A section of the earthen barrier, cutting horizontally across the middle of the image, being built by the Israeli military. On one side are two military bases, and on the other the Palestinian tent city of Muwasi. Photograph: Planet Labs PBC/AP The board said the plan for pilot sites would proceed “regardless of the status of broader negotiations” with Hamas, and could be expanded to “future zones”.Two sources said the plans for a pilot programme did not augur any genuine progress on the ground. “They’re desperate and trying to show something,” said one.If realised, however, it would “entrench the division of Gaza”, said Amjad Iraqi, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.“It is an attempt by the United States ... and the Israelis to set new facts on the ground, in the form of very narrow and specific political and security arrangements for them to remake Gaza in an image that they prefer.”A board official said it was “a project for Palestinians, by Palestinians” and would be administered by the Palestinian technocrats. “Several elements have advanced in recent days, including the arrival of more ISF personnel, additional equipment” and international support, they said.Yellow linePrime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in May ordered the Israeli military to increase its control to 70 per cent of Gaza, and troops have pressed further into the territory since the ceasefire - despite the deal’s call for a future Israeli withdrawal.Israel has taken further steps to cement its control, building an earthen mound along the “yellow line” that splits Gaza in two. The barrierextends for kilometres through the enclave. “The Israelis started digging trenches 10 days ago, then they used the earth they removed to build the berm,” said one Palestinian, who lives in the Mawasi displacement camp and can see the barrier from a couple of hundred metres away.Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7th, 2023, cross-border attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage. More than 72,000 people were killed in Gaza over two years of conflict, according to Palestinian officials, with much of the enclave destroyed.Rafah governorate has been under Israeli control since May 2024. The city was largely flattened by the Israeli military and all but emptied of its residents. A local militia armed by Israel operates in the area.Egypt, which borders Rafah, is wary of the board’s plan to set up the Rafah zone and move Palestinians there, viewing it as a potential prelude to their expulsion into its territory, said a source .[ ‘Zero dollars’: Why does Donald Trump’s Board of Peace fund lie empty?Opens in new window ]The Board of Peace insists that no one will be forced to leave Gaza, but the source said many Palestinians would still be wary of moving to the zone.“There’s no guarantee that they will fare any better over there,” the source said.“It also means that they will come into control of militias, if not the Israeli army itself.“Some will worry it will be a kind of transitional or interim camp setting the stage for their possible expulsion.”Discussions at the Civil-Military Co-ordination Center, the US military-led body tasked with overseeing the ceasefire, have repeatedly examined plans for residential sites such as that proposed in Rafah, according to multiple sources .Proposals discussed included having the United Arab Emirates fund the first planned site, according to the people and planning documents seen by the Financial Times.The Board of Peace said security in the proposed zone would be provided by the ISF, which has yet to be staffed in significant numbers.The board said Morocco had officially joined the ISF and that Moroccan officers were present at ISF headquarters. Social media pictures also showed soldiers from Kosovo joining this month.Iraqi noted that wherever the pilot projects are situated, the Israeli military will remain the primary authority.“They will still control who goes in and out, and they will decide if they want to militarily act or launch an air strike,” he said. “Even if the ISF gets deployed, it neither has the authority, nor the trust, nor the legitimacy ... to advance a real, meaningful kind of calm or ceasefire.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026