Trump’s Gaza Board moves ahead with first project - military base for Moroccan troops

A small military outpost intended to house Moroccan troops is set to become the first construction project pursued under US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Gaza, although the contract for the facility has yet to be finalized. The project comes as the board moves ahead with a more limited reconstruction programme for the territory.The proposed base would accommodate about 150 personnel on a site measuring roughly 100 metres by 120 metres. It is planned inside the 60% of Gaza currently under direct Israeli military control, about a mile from the Israeli border, and would include provisions allowing troops to leave rapidly if the position came under attack.The Guardian reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that Louisiana-based Arkel International had been selected for the project, although the contract itself had not been finalized. The company has previously carried out work for the US government in countries including Iraq. A Board of Peace official said the board and the Palestinian technocratic body overseeing Gaza were in the final stages of preparing several contract awards, while stressing that none had yet been finalized.The Palestinian body is known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. Trump chairs the Board of Peace, whose leadership also includes his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his friend Steve Witkoff.Base planned for Moroccan troopsThe outpost is intended to support an international stabilization force, or ISF, envisaged as part of Gaza’s future security and governance arrangements. Morocco has promised to contribute a small contingent, which would rotate into Gaza from a base in Israel.A UN resolution authorizing the Board of Peace also approved the establishment of an international stabilization force for Gaza. Questions remain, however, over which countries will provide troops, the legal framework governing the force and when any deployment might begin.The planned Gaza facility would also have a route allowing the Moroccan contingent to be withdrawn quickly in the event of an attack. Israeli forces have separately established a buffer zone beyond the area they directly control.Earlier plan envisaged 5,000-person baseThe 150-person facility had previously been conceived as the opening phase of a much larger ISF installation capable of eventually housing about 5,000 personnel, according to earlier contract plans.Those plans included defensive positions for vehicles, a raised perimeter bank and basic infrastructure intended for short deployments. The initial phase envisaged tents and cots for troops, along with chemical toilets and handwashing facilities.The project comes days after Trump said Hamas had agreed to disarm, although significant questions remain over how such a process would take place. Israel has opposed the proposed disarmament arrangement and stepped up airstrikes in Gaza following Trump’s announcement.Reconstruction ambitions scaled backThe military project is taking shape as the Board of Peace reduces the scope of its wider reconstruction plans for Gaza.The Guardian reported in July that an earlier blueprint covering reconstruction across the territory had been narrowed to a pilot project in southern Gaza, marking a considerable shift from the broader development vision presented earlier in the year.At the board’s first meeting in January, Kushner unveiled a “master plan” for what was described as “New Gaza”, built around a waterfront city featuring large mixed-use towers and extensive development.“It could be a hope, it could be a destination. A lot of industry,” Kushner said at the time.Trump had separately said in February 2025 that the US would “take over” and “own” Gaza. The eventual agreement establishing the Board of Peace stopped short of that proposal.At least 80% of buildings in Gaza were damaged or destroyed during the war. Ten months after the ceasefire, most of the territory’s roughly 2 million residents continue to live in makeshift and unsanitary camps.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.