Trump administration to unveil new Gaza governance structure led by Nikolay Mladenov

The Trump administration is moving into the “second phase” of its regional strategy, preparing to unveil a new governance structure for Gaza on Wednesday, January 14, following a series of prolonged delays.

US and Israeli officials tasked with managing the fragile ceasefire insist that progress is achievable, despite the controversial track record of the same individuals involved in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The GHF was a previous aid distribution initiative that largely failed after Israeli forces repeatedly opened fire on its designated access routes.

Sources familiar with the plans told the Financial Times (FT) that, following the announcement by senior officials, the administration aims to achieve “quick wins” with Israeli backing. These objectives include the full reopening of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, the provision of expanded medical support for Palestinians, and the easing of import restrictions on goods entering the Gaza Strip.

According to individuals close to the matter, Nikolay Mladenov, the former Bulgarian defense minister and UN envoy, will be named “High Representative” for the divided territory. Mladenov, a respected diplomat who was not involved with the GHF, will oversee the daily governance operations of a 14-member committee of Palestinian technocrats.

Sources noted that the official announcement of a “Peace Board,” to be led by President Donald Trump and other world leaders, will be deferred for the time being. However, the White House plans to announce an executive committee for the general “board,” comprising key international actors, including US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and the primary architect of the administration’s Gaza policy.

The timing of these announcements may be influenced by Trump’s pending decision on whether to launch military action against Iran.

The next steps in the “second phase” of the ceasefire involve deploying Palestinian technocrats to Gaza to assume control of civil affairs from Hamas, as outlined in the US-brokered ceasefire agreement signed last October that ended two years of conflict.

“We need to demonstrate that they can succeed,” said one regional diplomat, referring to the technocratic committee. However, several individuals familiar with the plans cautioned that significant obstacles remain. Western and Muslim nations remain hesitant to provide peacekeeping forces or funding while Israeli forces occupy half of the territory and Hamas maintains tight control over the other half.

A regional diplomat estimated that tens of billions of dollars are required for reconstruction, yet only $1 billion has been raised to date. US officials, who intend to use this month’s Davos Economic Forum to drum up financial and political support for the Gaza plans, identified the primary hurdles as the uncertainty surrounding the disarmament of Hamas and the Israeli government’s refusal to accept large-scale reconstruction or further troop withdrawals without such disarmament.

Last week, Mladenov traveled to Israel to meet with senior US and Israeli officials, including Benjamin Netanyahu. Present at the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday were several figures responsible for Gaza’s post-war transition, including Miroslav Zafirov, Mladenov’s chief aide and a former Bulgarian and UN diplomat with extensive Middle East experience.

On the “American” side of the table sat the two Bulgarians alongside Aryeh Lightstone, a senior US envoy leading the Gaza team in Israel, and Liran Tancman, an Israeli tech entrepreneur and former reservist serving as a voluntary advisor to the US team. Facing them on the “Israeli” side were Michael Eisenberg, an Israeli-American venture capitalist advising Netanyahu on Gaza and US policy, and General Roman Gofman, the Prime Minister’s military secretary, who is slated to lead the Mossad intelligence agency later this year.

Sources indicated that all four US and Israeli officials played pivotal roles in planning and promoting the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operated alongside US private military companies to secure food distribution points in Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza last year. According to GHF insiders and associates, Lightstone worked to secure funding and international backing, while Eisenberg, Tancman, and Gofman developed and advanced the concept within the Israeli establishment.

The private aid distribution plan was linked to attempts to undermine Hamas’s administrative and economic grip on Gaza, a goal that largely failed.

Critics of the US-led “second phase” initiative, including Israeli and Western officials and analysts, argue that the latest plans are detached from the political and security realities on the ground in Gaza. They contend that the small team of US and Israeli officials—consisting of diplomats, businessmen, and informal advisors—is highly ambitious but lacks localized expertise and is overly aligned with Netanyahu’s right-wing administration.

This group has developed an audacious 32-page blueprint titled “Project Sunrise,” a $112 billion plan to redevelop Gaza into a futuristic, AI-powered luxury enclave within a decade. “They are focused on ‘Sunrise’ and are working backward, but there is nothing in between to get there from the current situation [in Gaza],” said one individual involved in Gaza affairs.

A regional diplomat remarked that the group behind the “Sunrise” plan “thinks the sun has risen just because they woke up.” However, the diplomat added, “This is the only option… You can say it’s a bad plan or an insufficient plan, but until someone comes up with a better idea, this is what will happen.”

Two Israeli officials stated that the recent planning reflects the unconventional style Trump has adopted in his second term, where policy is driven by private-sector businessmen utilizing tech-industry methodologies and “informal-official” envoys. This group of US and Israeli civilian officials has effectively bypassed the influence of the Civil-Military Coordination Center, the US-led military headquarters in southern Israel established after last October’s ceasefire.

Meanwhile, an Arab diplomat and a Palestinian official told the Times of Israel that approximately a dozen Palestinians received formal invitations on January 13 to serve on the technocratic committee that will manage Gaza’s daily affairs in place of Hamas. Two technocrats who received the letters said the invitations were signed by Nikolay Mladenov in his capacity as the High Representative appointed by the “Peace Board.”

Reports suggest the US informed interlocutors last month that leaders from Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany had committed to joining the “Peace Board” alongside Trump.

The technocratic committee will be headed by Ali Shaath, who previously served as the Palestinian Authority’s deputy minister of transportation. Shaath is originally from Gaza but currently resides in the West Bank. Iyad Abu Ramadan, president of the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, was also among those who received a letter from Mladenov on Tuesday, requesting that he serve as the Commissioner for Economy, Trade, and Industry.

Abu Ramadan expressed that he was “eager to begin work to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza.” His decision to speak openly to Israeli media under his own name has been viewed as a notable development. An Arab diplomat noted that the US is working to persuade Israel to accept a series of steps—including the reopening of the Rafah crossing—to provide the technocratic committee with an initial boost of legitimacy.