U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 15 that member states of his Board of Peace will announce a combined pledge of more than $5 billion toward Gaza humanitarian and reconstruction efforts at a meeting in Washington this week.

“Just last month, two dozen distinguished Founding Members joined me in Davos, Switzerland, to celebrate its official formation, and present a bold Vision for the Civilians in Gaza,” Trump wrote on social media.

“On February 19th, 2026, I will again be joined by Board of Peace Members at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., where we will announce that Member States have pledged more than $5 BILLION DOLLARS toward the Gaza Humanitarian and Reconstruction efforts, and have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police to maintain Security and Peace for Gazans.”

The Feb. 19 summit will be the first official meeting of the group, featuring delegations and heads of state from the more than 20 countries that have signed onto Trump’s initiative so far.

A United Nations Security Council resolution approved the creation of the board, which is aimed at finally bringing the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza to a close.

Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, the two sides had been at war until agreeing to a cease-fire in October 2025. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the terms of the U.S.-brokered cease-fire.

The Israeli government alleges that Hamas has killed four Israeli soldiers since the cease-fire went into effect, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has accused Israeli troops of killing more than 590 Palestinians in the same period.

Board of Peace

So far, Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Qatar, and Israel have signed onto the board, as have Hungary, Argentina, Paraguay, Indonesia, Mongolia, and others.

Trump initially extended an invitation to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to join the initiative, but he rescinded that offer on Jan. 22 after two world leaders clashed at the World Economic Forum that week.

Carney had criticized Washington’s increased pressure on Denmark and other European powers regarding a potential U.S. acquisition of Greenland.

“Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited,” he said during a speech in Davos on Jan. 20. “You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination.”

Trump responded a day later during his speech at the World Economic Forum that Canada “wasn’t so grateful” for the benefits it receives from its southern neighbor.

“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way; they should be grateful also, but they’re not,” Trump said. “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

Later that month, New Zealand’s government declined Trump’s offer to join the board. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand does not believe it could contribute significantly to humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

“A number of states, particularly from the region, have stepped up to contribute to the Board’s role on Gaza, and New Zealand would not add significant further value to that,” he wrote on social media on Jan. 29. “As a leading founder and longstanding supporter of the United Nations, it is important that the Board’s work is complementary to and consistent with the U.N. Charter.”

He said that because the Board of Peace is a new United Nations body, New Zealand needs clarity on “questions relating to its scope, now and in the future.”

Ryan Morgan, Omid Ghoreishi, Rex Widerstrom, and Reuters contributed to this report.