The Israeli government has raised a formal objection to the leadership structure unveiled by the United States to oversee the next phase of governance in Gaza, in an unusually public rebuke of its closest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Washington had failed to coordinate with Israel on the composition of the proposed executive bodies and that the arrangement ran contrary to Israeli policy. He has instructed the foreign ministry to raise Israel’s concerns directly with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The dispute follows a series of announcements by President Donald Trump on Friday, naming several members of what the White House calls a “founding executive board”, tasked with supervising a transitional administration in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. Trump himself will chair the seven-member body, which includes Rubio, the US special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and World Bank president Ajay Banga.
Along with this, the White House said a second entity, the “Gaza executive board”, would be established to support effective governance and the delivery of services aimed at promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in Gaza. Witkoff, Kushner, and Blair will sit on this board as well, joined by Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, senior Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi and other international officials.
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The inclusion of senior figures from Turkey and Qatar has proved particularly contentious in Israel, especially since both were vocal critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Qatar hosts senior Hamas figures, while Turkey has long maintained close ties with the group. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has adopted an increasingly hostile posture towards Israel.
Although the committees include Israeli billionaire businessman Yakir Gabay, they notably exclude any serving Israeli government official. This omission, combined with the prominence accorded to Turkish and Qatari representatives, prompted Netanyahu to instruct Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to formally protest to Rubio. Israeli officials argue that decisions shaping Gaza’s future cannot credibly be taken without Israel’s direct involvement, particularly when countries viewed in Jerusalem as sympathetic to Hamas are given influential roles.
Israeli opposition figures were quick to seize on the issue. Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, described the announcement as a “diplomatic failure”, accusing the government of allowing a situation in which Turkey and Qatar could wield significant influence in Gaza while Hamas retains a substantial armed presence. Israeli military estimates suggest the group still commands tens of thousands of fighters despite the destruction of much of its infrastructure.
On the far right of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, the reaction was even sharper. Ministers such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich argued that states accused of backing Hamas should have no role in replacing it, and renewed calls for Israel to resume full-scale military operations in Gaza rather than rely on an internationally brokered transition.
According to reporting in both Israeli and American media, the lack of coordination over the appointments was deliberate. US officials have indicated that Netanyahu was not informed in advance about the involvement of Turkish and Qatari officials because Washington considers post-war Gaza to be an American-led project. The message conveyed privately, according to these accounts, was that if Israel wants the Trump administration to manage the Gaza file, it will be done on US terms. Trump has described the body as the “greatest and most prestigious board ever assembled” and said it will oversee the transfer of power away from Hamas.
The diplomatic friction comes as the ceasefire enters its second phase, focused on disarming Hamas, deploying an international security force, and beginning large-scale reconstruction. The Gaza executive board is intended to oversee and support a new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a technocratic Palestinian body that recently held its first meeting in Cairo. The committee, led by former Palestinian Authority official Ali Sha’ath, is meant to manage day-to-day civilian affairs under the supervision of the international board.
The Trump administration has argued that the involvement of countries such as Turkey is essential to securing a comprehensive demilitarisation agreement, including the surrender of weapons and the dismantling of Hamas’s tunnel network. Yet Hamas, while agreeing to give up its governing role, has shown little inclination to disband its military wing.