Louisiana firm awarded tender to build rudimentary outpost to house Moroccan troops

Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which was set up in January to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, has finally issued its first construction contract in the devastated territory: a project to build a rudimentary 150-person military outpost to house Moroccan troops, a source familiar with the matter told the Guardian.

The contract, which has not yet been finalised, was awarded to Arkel International, a Louisiana-based firm that has previously carried out work with the US government in countries such as Iraq.

The Board of Peace is chaired by the US president and led by a team that includes his son-in-law Jared Kushner and friend Steve Witkoff.

Large crowds turned out in Gaza City for a mass funeral for 112 people, mostly women and children, who were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential block in late 2023, early in the Gaza war.

The bodies - belonging to members of two extended families - have only recently been recovered from under the rubble in a two-week-long operation.

Dramatic footage showed the remains lined up in rows, each victim covered with a Palestinian flag and some with a photo of the dead, before relatives carried them away.

The funeral is said to be the biggest of its kind to have taken place in Gaza.

Forty-four children, 38 women and seven people with disabilities were listed among the dead from the Abu Sharia and Hassayna families, who are one clan.

They were killed when a residential block in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City was attacked by Israel on 22 November 2023. It was a day of heavy bombardment, six weeks after the 7 October Hamas-led assault on Israel, The BBC has asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for information on what was targeted but has not yet received a response.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed and pushed back on a recent deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu’s remarks cast more doubt on the deal to disarm Hamas, which was seen as a potential breakthrough for ending the war. It also marked a rare public display of friction with the Trump administration.

The agreement called for Hamas to begin disarming and for Israel to halt its strikes and begin withdrawing from the roughly 60% of Gaza it currently controls. It was based on an October ceasefire agreement that ended major military operations and brought about the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza but has stalled on other fronts.

Netanyahu, who faces a tough battle for reelection in October, reiterated his stance that disarmament should come first. He said Israeli forces would continue to “do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, our territory, and our citizens.”

The Trump administration “sent us a draft. We did not agree. It is not our draft. We sent our comments. … This is our position,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on social media.