US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” has drafted its first construction contract related to Gaza since it was established in January. According to an August 6 report by The Guardian, the contract provides for the construction of a basic 150-person military base where Moroccan troops would be stationed.

Trump established the Board of Peace to carry out his plans for the territory following Israel’s two-year assault on Palestinians in Gaza. The board has begun preparations for the International Stabilization Force that is due to operate in Gaza.

Morocco had agreed to send troops to the International Stabilization Force, which was created to maintain control in Gaza on behalf of Israel and the US.

Construction contract awarded to US firm active in Iraq

The construction contract was awarded to Louisiana-based Arkel International, which previously carried out various projects in Iraq on behalf of the US government.

However, a Board of Peace official said in an email to The Guardian that the contracts had not yet been finalized. “The Board is in the final stages of preparing various contracts. None has yet been finalized,” the official said.

The official said one of the possible contracts covered the construction of facilities for the International Stabilization Force to support the implementation of the security and governance arrangements in the road map. “This contract is one of many that will be necessary for Gaza’s future,” the official said.

150 troops initially, later 5,000

Under the contract, the base for Moroccan troops would be built on a site measuring 100 metres by 120 metres. The facility, which would house troops deployed on rotation from a base in Israel, would be located about two kilometres from the Israeli border.

The base is planned for the 60% of the Gaza Strip that is under direct occupation by the Israeli military.

According to a draft contract previously seen by The Guardian, the facility would later be expanded to accommodate 5,000 International Stabilization Force troops from different countries.

“Smart city” plan scaled back

Trump said in February 2025 that the US would “take over” Gaza and “own” it.

At the Board of Peace’s first meeting in January 2026, Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner unveiled a “master plan” aimed at transforming Gaza into a high-tech coastal “smart city”.

However, the Trump-led board later scaled back its sweeping ambitions for Gaza’s post-war reconstruction and shifted towards a limited pilot project in the southern buffer zone near Rafah.

The plan envisages “humanitarian aid” camps enclosed by “fences”, where Palestinians would be kept under strict control. Critics have described the compounds as “concentration camps”.

Israel has destroyed or damaged about 80% of the structures in Gaza, including homes, apartment buildings, hospitals, schools and mosques, in attacks aimed at making the territory uninhabitable.

Israeli ministers, settler activists and journalists have called for Gaza to be ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian population and opened to Jewish settlers.

Israel is reported to have killed at least 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, most of them women and children. Independent estimates indicate that the true death toll could run into the hundreds of thousands.

The Jerusalem District Court has temporarily halted a plan spearheaded by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to construct crocodile-filled moats around prisons housing thousands of Palestinian detainees.

According to Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the ruling follows a petition filed by the animal rights organization Let the Animals Live against Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, Ben-Gvir, and the Israeli Prison Service (IPS). The group argued that the project would lead to the mistreatment of the crocodiles and place prison staff in danger.

In a decision announced Sunday, Judge Avraham Rubin stated: “The claims regarding potential harm to the crocodiles warrant examination and justify issuing an order prohibiting the transfer of the animals or the execution of any actions related to locating and preparing them for transfer.”

Neither the petition submitted by the animal rights organization nor the text of Judge Rubin’s ruling made reference to the condition or life-threatening conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners subjected to torture and sexual assault in facilities under Ben-Gvir’s authority.

Noting that the temporary injunction will remain in effect until further notice, the judge granted Silman, Ben-Gvir, and the Israeli Prison Service until Wednesday to submit their defense arguments.

Status of Nile crocodiles was altered

The Israeli government laid the legal groundwork for the project in July when Environmental Protection Minister Silman altered the conservation status of Nile crocodiles. Reclassified out of the protected wild animal category, the reptiles were reassigned to the classification of wild animals “raised in a controlled environment” or “held under management.”

This regulatory shift granted the Israeli Prison Service authority to keep crocodiles around prison perimeters, provided they comply with rules established by the Nature and Parks Authority. Prior to the modification, Nile crocodiles could only be housed in zoos. In its petition, Let the Animals Live also requested the revocation of this status change.

Ben-Gvir had proposed placing crocodiles in water channels encircling prisons under the pretext of preventing Palestinian detainees from escaping. The Israeli minister stated that in formulating his plan, he drew inspiration from an immigrant detention center in the US state of Florida known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

In December, Minister Ben-Gvir published an AI-generated image on his social media account depicting himself holding a crocodile on a leash, accompanied by the caption: “Cursed terrorist, thinking of escaping? Think again.”

Israeli officials defended the proposal, contending that the crocodiles would enhance security measures and lower prison operational costs by reducing the requirement for patrolling personnel. The project was slated for implementation at the Ketziot Prison in the Negev Desert, where authorities had already initiated excavation work on a section of the moat.

9,600 Palestinians held in prisons

Since taking office in December 2022 as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, Ben-Gvir has signed off on measures that significantly harshened the detention conditions of Palestinian prisoners. Ben-Gvir has also visited prisons and engaged in humiliating conduct toward detainees.

According to data from the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, approximately 9,600 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons. Thousands of these individuals are detained under “administrative detention” without formal charges or trial.

The commission recorded that 89 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody since the onset of attacks on Gaza in 2023. The fate of dozens of individuals detained from Gaza remains unknown.

In 2024, a Palestinian prisoner was gang-raped by five soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention center, one of the facilities where Palestinians are held. After footage of the incident surfaced, Jewish settlers attempting to support the detained soldiers stormed the facility. Earlier this year, a court dropped the charges against the soldiers.

Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has documented that prison guards, soldiers, and Shin Bet officers have subjected Palestinian detainees to rape, forced insertion of objects into the anus, beatings to the genitals, starvation, electric shocks, and the withholding of medical treatment.

Iran is expected to receive its first shipment of 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air defense missile systems within weeks as it seeks to rebuild its air defenses amid an ongoing war with the US.

Three sources with knowledge of the agreement disclosed the information to Reuters.

Valued at between $60 million and $70 million, the purchase represents one of Tehran’s largest known efforts to bolster its short-range air defense capabilities since the outbreak of hostilities with the US and Israel.

According to the sources, the contract covers between 300 and 400 man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles.

The deal was signed with Hong Kong-based Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, which reportedly acted as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet responded to a request for comment from Reuters regarding the information provided by the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement:

“The relevant reports are completely baseless. China has consistently played a role in promoting peace and bringing an end to the conflict.”

Beijing-based Zhong Qing Bao Shang Group, the parent company of Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent on Tuesday.

Iran needs to rearm following months of conflict during which the US and Israel struck facilities tied to its missile, drone, and air defense programs. Tehran responded to those attacks with salvos of ballistic missiles and drones.

The fighting demonstrated the difficulty of defending static military and strategic installations against advanced fighter jets and precision-guided munitions.

Washington abruptly halted its two-week bombing campaign on Saturday. However, US President Donald Trump said attacks would resume if negotiations aimed at ending the five-month war—which has theoretically been under a ceasefire since April—fail.

The delivery of hundreds of MANPADS systems would significantly expand Iran’s inventory of short-range air defense weapons.

However, the sources cautioned that while the agreement has been signed, the delivery schedule, quantities, and other operational details remain subject to change.

Under the plan agreed upon by the parties, initial deliveries will be transported by air from the western Chinese city of Urumqi before being routed through Pakistan to Iran. The sources did not clarify whether transport following the transit through Pakistan would occur by air or land.

The Pakistani military’s public relations wing, ISPR, said in a statement:

“Allegations that Pakistan is playing a role in the supply of air defense weapons from China to Iran are completely fabricated and contrary to fact.”

Two Western intelligence sources and an Iranian official said Tehran is also exploring the option of using overland routes to transport Chinese-made military equipment and dual-use components more covertly, reducing the risk of shipments being intercepted.

The procurement process underscores how the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to rely on a combination of domestic arms production and foreign suppliers, despite years of sanctions and defense import restrictions.

Reuters previously reported, citing individuals familiar with the discussions, that Iran was close to concluding a separate deal to purchase anti-ship cruise missiles from China. Reuters was unable to confirm whether that agreement was finalized.