Muslim worshippers carry out Friday prayers throughout the holy month of Ramadan at Salah al-Din College, which has been transformed right into a shelter for displaced Palestinians amid the Israel–Hamas warfare, in Gaza Metropolis on February 20, 2026.
| Picture Credit score: AP
Discussions on Gaza’s future should start with a complete halt to Israeli “aggression”, Palestinian Islamist motion Hamas stated after U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace met for the primary time.
“Any political course of or any association below dialogue in regards to the Gaza Strip and the way forward for our Palestinian individuals should begin with the entire halt of aggression, the lifting of the blockade, and the assure of our individuals’s legit nationwide rights, at the start their proper to freedom and self-determination,” Hamas stated in a press release Thursday (February 19, 2026).
Mr. Trump’s board met for its inaugural session in Washington on Thursday (February 19, 2026), with a variety of international locations pledging cash and personnel to rebuild the Palestinian territory, greater than 4 months right into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted nonetheless that Hamas should disarm earlier than any reconstruction begins.
“We agreed with our ally the U.S. that there shall be no reconstruction of Gaza earlier than the demilitarisation of Gaza,” Mr. Netanyahu stated.
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The Israeli chief didn’t attend the Washington assembly however was represented by his overseas minister Gideon Saar.
Mr. Trump stated a number of international locations, largely within the Gulf, had pledged greater than seven billion {dollars} to rebuild the territory.
Muslim-majority Indonesia will take a deputy commander function in a nascent Worldwide Stabilisation Drive, the unit’s American chief Main Normal Jasper Jeffers stated.
Mr. Trump, whose plan for Gaza was endorsed by the UN Safety Council in November, additionally stated 5 international locations had dedicated to offering troops, together with Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania.
Revealed – February 20, 2026 10:38 pm IST