Prospective 150-person base would house Moroccan troops
The proposed facility would measure 100 meters by 120 meters and sit in the part of Gaza directly controlled by the Israeli army, according to the source cited by The Guardian. The site would be about a mile from the Israeli border and would include a “quick extraction route” if the troops came under attack.
The Louisiana-based company Arkel International received the prospective award. The firm has previously performed work for the U.S. government in countries including Iraq, according to The Guardian. The source said Moroccan troops would rotate to the site from a base in Israel.
The Board of Peace was established in January to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction. Trump chairs the board, which includes his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his friend Steve Witkoff.
A Board of Peace official said in an email that the board and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a group of Palestinian technocrats installed to oversee the territory, are preparing several awards. “None have been finalised,” the official said.
The official described one prospective award as a facilities project supporting the international stabilization force, or ISF. The force is intended to help implement security and governance arrangements under the roadmap. “This contract will be one of many that are essential for the future of Gaza,” the official said.
The contract’s prospective status means the outpost is not yet a completed award. The legal framework for the stabilization force also has not been finalized, and the timing of any deployment remains unclear. Morocco has promised a small contingent, while reports have varied over which countries would provide troops.
Earlier plans called for the 150-person facility to serve as the first stage of a larger 5,000-person ISF base. Those plans included “vehicle fighting positions,” a perimeter berm and rudimentary facilities for short-term deployments. The first stage was to use tents and cots, chemical toilets and handwashing stations; the earlier contract document described those provisions as habitable for that phase.
The reported military project is narrower than the Board of Peace’s initial reconstruction vision. At the board’s first meeting in January, Kushner presented a “master plan” for “New Gaza,” including a waterfront city with mixed-use towers. “It could be a hope, it could be a destination. A lot of industry,” Kushner said.
The Guardian reported in July that the reconstruction plan had contracted from an effort to rebuild the whole territory to a small pilot project in southern Gaza. The board’s reported first construction effort is now a military outpost rather than a broad civilian rebuilding project.
The development followed Trump’s announcement that Hamas had agreed to disarm. Israel has opposed the plan, and Israeli forces increased airstrikes in Gaza after the announcement, according to The Guardian.
At least 80% of Gaza’s buildings were damaged or destroyed in the war, and most of the territory’s 2 million people remained in makeshift and unsanitary camps 10 months after the ceasefire, the report said. Trump’s earlier proposal, announced in February 2025, that the United States would “take over” and “own” Gaza was not included in the agreement establishing the Board of Peace.