While diplomats in Washington debated frameworks and principles at the Board of Peace’s inaugural meeting Thursday, approximately two million Palestinians in Gaza were living through conditions of profound humanitarian deprivation. The humanitarian clock is ticking far faster than the diplomatic calendar — and the mismatch between the two is one of the board’s most urgent challenges.
Aid deliveries to Gaza have increased under the ceasefire — a genuine improvement over conditions during the height of the military campaign. But the scale of humanitarian need vastly exceeds current delivery capacity. Food, water, shelter, and medical care remain critically insufficient for a population that has endured two years of devastating war and whose infrastructure has been largely destroyed.
The humanitarian situation is not merely a background condition to the peace process — it is a determining factor in its success or failure. A population living in desperate deprivation and losing confidence that international promises will translate into improved conditions is a population whose support for any peace framework cannot be assumed.
Expert observers have been direct about the consequences of slow progress. The International Crisis Group warned that if Thursday’s board meeting does not produce fast, tangible improvements on the ground — particularly on the humanitarian front — the board’s credibility will crumble. That warning should be heard as a countdown, not just a caution.
Trump’s board has made ambitious claims about reconstruction pledges and peacekeeping personnel. But the humanitarian crisis in Gaza requires immediate, practical action — more aid convoys, more medical supplies, more shelter materials — that does not depend on the resolution of complex political questions about disarmament and governance. The board must find ways to advance humanitarian delivery even while the larger political questions remain unresolved.