Trump says Board of Peace will unveil $5 billion in Gaza reconstruction pledges at inaugural meeting
West Palm Beach (AP): President Donald Trump said Sunday that members of his newly created Board of Peace have pledged USD 5 billion toward rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilisation and police forces for the territory.
The pledges will be formally announced when board members gather in Washington on Thursday for their first meeting, he said.
“The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History, and it is my honour to serve as its Chairman,” Trump said in a social media posting announcing the pledges.
He did not detail which member nations were making the pledges for reconstruction or would contribute personnel to the stabilisation force. But Indonesia's military said Sunday that up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission. It's the first firm commitment that the Republican president has received.
Rebuilding the Palestinian territory will be a daunting endeavour. The United Nations, World Bank and European Union estimate that reconstruction of the territory will cost USD 70 billion. Few places in the Gaza Strip were left unscathed by more than two years of Israeli bombardment.
The ceasefire deal calls for an armed international stabilization force to keep security and ensure the disarming of the Hamas group, a key demand of Israel. Thus far, few countries have expressed interest in taking part in the proposed force.
The October 10 US-brokered ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than 2-year war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones.
It is not clear how many of the more than 20 members of the Board of Peace will attend the first meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held White House talks with Trump last week, is not expected to be there.
Trump's new board was first seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. But it has taken shape with his ambition for a far broader mandate of resolving global crises and appears to be the latest US effort to sidestep the United Nations as Trump aims to reset the post-World War II international order.
Many of America's top allies in Europe and elsewhere have declined to join what they suspect may be an attempt to rival the Security Council.
Trump also confirmed that Thursday's meeting will take place at the US Institute of Peace, which the State Department announced in December it was remaining the Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace.
The building is the subject of litigation brought by former employees and executives of the nonprofit think tank after the Republican administration seized the facility last year and fired almost all the institute's staff.
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90-year-old woman raped by four masked men in MP village; SIT launches probe
Khandwa (MP) (PTI): A woman, aged about 90, was allegedly raped by four masked men in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district, prompting the authorities to launch a probe by a special investigation team (SIT), police said on Saturday.
The woman is being treated at the district hospital for the injuries sustained during the sexual assault. She is out of danger, they said.
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The woman was alone inside her hut in an agricultural field in her village, about 55 km from the district headquarters, on Thursday night, when she was allegedly gang-raped.
The survivor informed her daughter, who lives in another village, about the incident the next morning. She then took her to the district hospital.
The hospital staff advised the woman and her daughter to approach the police, Khandwa Superintendent of Police Manoj Rai told PTI over the phone.
After receiving a complaint, police registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 70, which concerns gang rape, Rai said.
An SIT, headed by an additional superintendent of police, has been formed, and three teams have been deployed to track down those behind the alleged crime. Police have also announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for information leading to their arrest, he added.
