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Board of Peace Preparing Humanitarian Pilot Zones in Southern Gaza

Palestinians carrying bags of flour outside a distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Deir al-Balah, the central Gaza Strip, on May 28, 2025. Photo by Ali Hassan/Flash90.

U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace is preparing pilot humanitarian zones in southern Gaza to shelter vetted Palestinian civilians outside Hamas control, a source familiar with the plans said Wednesday. The zones would be administered by the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and secured by the multinational International Stabilization Force, with an ISF base and an NCAG police camp already put out to preparatory tender. A Board of Peace official said the first pilot in the Rafah area could accept tens of thousands of unarmed civilians unaffiliated with Hamas, with NCAG carrying out the screening while the IDF has no contact with civilians and no role separating the zones. High Representative Nickolay Mladenov has stressed that Hamas disarmament remains a precondition for Gaza reconstruction, and the pilot is described as a humanitarian starting point, not reconstruction or a substitute for demilitarization.

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