THE Donald Trump administration is planning a large military installation in Gaza capable of housing up to 5,000 personnel as part of a multinational force tied to The Board of Peace.
The compound, covering more than 350 acres in southern Gaza, would serve as headquarters for an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) authorised by the United Nations Security Council to secure borders and maintain order in the devastated enclave.
The Board of Peace, created to administer Gaza, is chaired by Trump and partly led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
More than 20 countries have joined, though many governments have stayed away, and its charter appears to grant Trump permanent leadership authority.
Plans reviewed show the base being built in phases across flatlands littered with twisted metal left by years of Israeli bombardment during the genocide in Gaza.
The fortified site, measuring roughly 1,400 metres by 1,100 metres, would be encircled by barbed wire and guarded by 26 trailer-mounted armoured watchtowers, alongside bunkers, equipment warehouses and a small arms firing range.
A small group of international construction firms experienced in war zones had already visited the site.
Legal scholars have raised concerns about the body’s structure.
‘The Board of Peace is a kind of legal fiction, nominally with its own international legal personality separate from both the UN and the United States, but in reality it’s just an empty shell for the United States to use as it sees fit,’ said Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers University.
Contractors said that funding and governance arrangements remain unclear and that discussions with US officials have often taken place on the encrypted messaging platform Signal rather than formal government systems.
The construction tender was issued by the Board of Peace with assistance from US contracting officials.
Engineering plans include reinforced bunkers with ventilation systems and mandatory underground surveys.
‘The contractor shall conduct a geophysical survey of the site to identify any subterranean voids, tunnels, or large cavities per phase,’ the document states.
A separate ‘Human Remains Protocol’ instructs contractors that: ‘If suspected human remains or cultural artifacts are discovered, all work in the immediate area must cease immediately, the area must be secured, and the Contracting Officer must be notified immediately for direction.’
At least 10,000 Palestinian bodies are believed to remain buried beneath rubble following months of Israeli bombardment, while land ownership remains unclear in southern Gaza, much of which is under Israeli military control.
The United Nations estimates at least 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced.
Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former peace negotiator, said constructing a foreign military base without Palestinian consent amounted to occupation.
‘Whose permission did they get to build that military base?’ she said.
