Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

US President Donald Trump announced the formation of the "Board of Peace," calling it the most prestigious body ever assembled.

Taking to his social media platform, Trump said he is backing "a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Government" in Gaza.

"It is my Great Honor to announce that THE BOARD OF PEACE has been formed," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, adding that the members of the body will be announced "shortly."

"I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place," Trump said.

The board's creation comes shortly after the announcement of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee, charged with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza.

The committee will work under the supervision of the board of peace, which Trump is expected to chair.

The plan also calls for the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force to help secure Gaza and train vetted Palestinian police units.

Hamas leaders and representatives of other Palestinian factions in Gaza are in the Egyptian capital Cairo for talks on the second phase of the United States-led Gaza ceasefire deal, amid a teetering ceasefire that Israel has repeatedly violated as its genocidal war continues, reported Al Jazeera.

The Palestinian group on Thursday welcomed the establishment of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee that would operate under the overall supervision of a so-called “Board of Peace”, to be chaired by US President Donald Trump.

“The formation of the committee is a step in the right direction,” said Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas leader.

“This is crucial for consolidating the ceasefire, preventing a return to war, addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis and preparing for comprehensive reconstruction.”

Deep uncertainty remains over the next steps involving the disarmament of Palestinian armed groups in the Strip, rebuilding and daily governance.

An adviser to the head of Hamas’s political bureau told Al Jazeera that discussions in Cairo are focusing on reopening the Rafah crossings, ensuring the entry of aid currently stockpiled on the Egyptian side of the border and securing an Israeli withdrawal.

Taher al-Nunu said Hamas “must work with mediators and the international community to achieve calm and a return to normalcy in Gaza” and praised the “great efforts” being made to implement what was agreed upon.

Al-Nunu also accused Israel of attempting to derail the ceasefire and said Hamas was “working with mediators to open the crossings, allow aid in and secure the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip”.

However, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, known as Kan, reported that Israeli officials consider the so-called yellow line – a buffer zone in eastern Gaza – as a strategic area that will remain under Israeli control.

Israel’s current military occupation of Gaza is more than 50 percent of the besieged enclave.

Israel has killed at least ten Palestinians across Gaza, just as the United States announced that the two sides had progressed to the second phase of a 20-point ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the conflict, Al Jazeera reported, citing a report from Wafa news agency.

The Israeli military bombed two houses belonging to the al-Hawli and the al-Jarou families in the central town of Deir el-Balah on Thursday evening, with health officials confirming a 16-year-old minor was among those killed, according to the agency.

The Israeli military announced that one of the victims, Muhammad al-Hawli, was a commander in the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Al Jazeera confirmed that a “senior figure of the Qassam Brigades” had been killed and that the attack underscored Israel’s message that it would be defining phase two of the ceasefire “on its terms”.

Israel, he said, had set the terms of the next phase of the ceasefire, which will see the establishment of a Palestinian technocratic administration overseen by an international “Board of Peace”, with the option of “escalation” remaining very much “on the table”.

Hamas condemned the targeting of the al-Hawli home as a “despicable crime”, saying that it revealed the “contempt” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the October ceasefire, but did not confirm the death of one of its commanders.

Elsewhere in the war-torn enclave, at least one person was shot dead by Israeli forces near Al-Alam roundabout, west of Rafah city, another person was killed in an Israeli attack on a police post near Al-Nablusi Junction, southwest of Gaza City and two more people were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Al-Khatib family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

British foreign minister Yvette Cooper said she welcomed the commitment to move to phase two of the peace plan in Gaza, including the announcement of the Palestinian National Committee for the administration of Gaza.

"It’s critical we build momentum to sustain the ceasefire, address the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza with increased aid, remove the threat from Hamas, and deliver long-term peace for Israelis and Palestinians," she said in a statement.

"All parties must deliver on their commitments under President Trump's 20 Point Peace Plan."

Two Israeli airstrikes killed five people in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, local health authorities said, and Palestinian media reported that one of those killed was a senior figure in the armed wing of Hamas.

Palestinian media identified him as Mohammed Al-Holy, describing him as a local Hamas commander in Deir Al-Balah. The resistance group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

More than 400 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed since a fragile ceasefire took effect in October.

Invitations have been sent on Wednesday to participate in the international "Board of Peace" that is meant to govern Gaza temporarily as part of US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in the Palestinian enclave, US officials said.

“Colors That Survived,” an exhibition sharing the young Palestinian artists’ work was held in New York, where art became a vessel of freedom when movement itself is restricted.

For Gaza’s children, whose daily lives are marked by conflict and confinement, seeing their drawings on the walls of a New York gallery is more than an exhibition.

It’s a symbolic journey. Their colours crossed borders, carrying fragments of their voices and resilience into spaces they could not physically reach.

The curators — Rachel who co-organised the event alongside with non-profit organisation, Artists Support, and the team behind The Voice of Hind Rajab — helped transform those sketches into ambassadors of hope, proof that creativity can travel even when bodies cannot.

It’s as if each canvas whispered: “We are still here, surviving, dreaming.”

In just last 48 hours, rains coupled with heavy winter storms ripped through Gaza, destroying nearly 7,000 tents and leaving thousands Palestinians homeless.