According to reports on Saturday, Nikos Christodoulides has been appointed to the newly created Gaza Peace Council. As the Cyprus News Agency reported, the Cypriot president had received a letter to this effect from Donald Trump. Cyprus will be one of the 25 founding states of the body.

The announcement followed the official announcement by the White House that the new "Board of Peace" had been established. The seven-member founding board includes Marco Rubio, US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and World Bank President Ajay Banga.

According to the White House, each board member takes on a clearly defined area of responsibility that is crucial for the stabilization and long-term success of the Gaza Strip. These include the establishment of functioning government structures, regional relations, reconstruction, investment promotion, and large-scale financing and capital mobilisation.

The Bulgarian diplomat Nikolai Mladenov, who previously served as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, was appointed "High Representative for Gaza". It is to act as an interface between the Peace Council and a newly formed national administrative committee for Gaza. This committee is the Palestinian-led part of the new administrative structure in the Gaza Strip and is headed by civil engineer Ali Shaath.

At the same time, the White House announced the establishment of a "Gaza Executive Council" to work independently of the founding board. The mission of this body is to support effective administration and provide basic services to promote peace, stability and economic prospects for the people of the Gaza Strip. Witkoff, Kushner, Blair and Mladenov are also members of this council. Other well-known members are the acting UN Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag and the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

At the same time, the spokesman for the Turkish president, Burhanettin Duran, said that Recep Tayyip Erdogan had also been invited as a founding member of the Peace Council. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Argentine President Javier Milei have also received invitations.

The alleged invitation to Christodoulides came against the backdrop of a statement by the Cypriot Foreign Ministry that Cyprus intends to further intensify its contributions to sustainable peace and security in close coordination with international and regional partners. The establishment of the Peace Council was described as a decisive step for an orderly transfer of power in Gaza.

In October last year, Christodoulides had already taken part in the summit on the future of the Gaza Strip in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Before his trip, he said that Cypriot companies should take an active role in the reconstruction of the area. After the summit, he spoke of six initiatives that Cyprus could take on the basis of Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza.

According to pro-government sources, these initiatives are based on three central pillars: security, humanitarian aid and reconstruction. The proposals were sent in the form of a letter to the European Union and the United Nations and also distributed to the other summit participants. It sets out how Cyprus can use its geographical location to contribute to the future of Gaza, similar to the Amalthea Initiative for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Later, the head of the Cypriot presidential office, Victor Papadopoulos, said that Christodoulides had informed El-Sisi and the heads of government of other EU member states that Cyprus wanted to offer operational support without claiming the role of a political mediator.