US President Trump launches Board of Peace that some fear rivals UN

US President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his Board of Peace, originally intended to help end the Gaza war but which he now sees having a wider role that Europe and some others fear will rival or undermine the United Nations.

Trump appeared to touch on those concerns in his opening remarks at a signing ceremony for the board, saying the new board would work with the UN as he listed other major diplomatic issues around the region and worldwide.

"Well, this is a very exciting day, long in the making, and many countries have just received their notice, and everybody wants to be a part of it, and we'll work with many others, including the United Nations," he said.

Trump, who chairs the board, invited dozens of other world leaders to join it and sees the grouping addressing other global challenges beyond the stuttering Gaza truce, though he does not intend it to replace the United Nations, he has said.

Some traditional US allies have balked at joining the board, which Trump says permanent members must help fund with a payment of $1 billion each, either responding cautiously or declining the invitation.

Representatives from countries introduced as founder members were present in the room as Trump spoke, but there were not any representatives from governments of other top global powers or from Israel or the Palestinian Authority.

Global role

Apart from the US, no other permanent member of the UN Security Council - the five nations with the most say over international law and diplomacy since the end of World War Two - has yet committed to join.

Russia said late on Wednesday it was studying the proposal after Trump said it would join. France has declined. Britain said on Thursday it was not joining at present. China has not yet said whether it will join.

The board's creation was endorsed by a United Nations Security Council resolution as part of Trump's Gaza peace plan, and UN spokesperson Rolando Gomez said on Thursday that UN engagement with the board would only be in that context.

However, around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Belarus.

The signing ceremony was held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum bringing together global political and business leaders is taking place.

'New Gaza' plans at Davos

Trump officials also unveiled ambitious plans for a "New Gaza" during the ceremony at the World Economic Forum, with the US leader describing the devastated Palestinian territory as "great real estate."

Trump told the gathering of the global elite in the Swiss mountain resorts that the organisation would work "in conjunction" with the United Nations.

A large part of the ceremony was devoted to talking about its plans for shattered Gaza.

Gaza's newly appointed administrator said in a video message that the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will reopen in both directions next week.

Then Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, like the president a former property developer, showed slides of what he billed as a "master plan" for Gaza's reconstruction.

The slides included maps of new settlements in the Gaza Strip and artist renderings of gleaming seafront hotels and apartments under the caption "New Gaza".

"It could be a hope. It could be a destination," Kushner said.

Trump told Hamas to disarm under the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire accord or it would be the "end of them". He added that he was ready to "talk" with regional foe Iran.

'Not so popular'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over the Gaza war, had said he would join, but was not at the ceremony.

The representatives of the 19 countries on stage with Trump included two close populist allies, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Argentine President Javier Milei, and officials from a host of Middle Eastern monarchies keen to curry favour.

Trump joked that they were "in most cases very popular leaders, some cases not so popular".

"That's the way it goes in life," he said.

He said he expected around 50 countries to join, but the full extent of the board's membership remains unclear.

Egypt said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had accepted Trump's invitation to join, but he was not on stage.

Trump said Putin had also agreed to join, though the Russian leader said he was still studying the invite.

Zelensky has also been invited, but has said that he could not envisage working alongside arch-foe Putin.

Sputtering Gaza ceasefire

The board's charter will task it with promoting peace around the world and Trump has already named other senior US officials to join it, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was present in Davos.

The ceasefire in Gaza, agreed in October, has sputtered for months with Israel and Hamas trading blame for repeated bursts of violence in which several Israeli soldiers and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed.

Both sides accuse each other of further violations, with Israel saying Hamas has procrastinated on returning a final body of a dead hostage and Hamas saying Israel has continued to curb aid into Gaza despite an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.

Each side rejects the other's accusations.

Trump has been characteristically bold in his comments on Gaza, saying the ceasefire amounts to "peace in the Middle East".

Even as the first phase of the truce stumbles, its next stage must address much tougher long-term issues that have bedevilled earlier negotiations, including Hamas disarmament, security control in Gaza and eventual Israeli withdrawal.

On Wednesday in Davos, Trump met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country played a major role in Gaza truce mediation talks, and they discussed the board.