Trump's Gaza Peace Plan Scaled Back to Tent Camp Pilot Scheme

An investigation by The Guardian has revealed that the Trump administration’s plan for Gaza has been significantly scaled back from a free market vision to a pilot scheme of tent camps. The revised plan, developed two weeks ago in Cyprus by members of the Board of Peace, Trump administration representatives, the Tony Blair Institute, and the National Committee for Gaza Administration, focuses on a buffer zone along the ceasefire line near Rafah. This is a stark departure from the ‘Gaza free market’ presentation made by Jared Kushner in January, which promised basic infrastructure within 100 days. No construction or preparatory work has commenced for the scheme, which is to be overseen by the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), a multinational peacekeeping force with a UN mandate established under the 2025 Gaza peace plan. A logistics base for the ISF is nearing completion at the Kerem Shalom crossing, and troops are scheduled to train in Egypt alongside personnel from Morocco, Kosovo, and possibly Albania and Kazakhstan. However, this training will take months, and the legal framework for the force’s presence is still being negotiated with the Israeli government. Funding for the pilot programme is non-existent or unknown, with only a fraction of the promised $17 billion for the 20-point peace plan actually available. The Board of Peace is attempting to access $11 billion in frozen Palestinian tax revenues and bank assets held by Israel, a move that has angered the Palestinian Authority. Construction activity is expected to be minimal until after the Israeli elections on 27 October, which could potentially unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government.