By WAFAA SHURAFA
Updated 12:47 PM EST, February 20, 2026
At the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington, President Donald Trump spoke of billions of dollars pledged to rebuild the Gaza Strip and a “new and harmonious” Middle East rising from the ashes of war. Videos aired at the meeting showed a future of gleaming high-rises and new soccer pitches.
There was no sign of such optimism in Gaza, where Palestinians who have spent months or even years in squalid displacement camps or the rubble of their homes hold out little hope for change.
“Since the beginning of the war, we’ve been hearing about conferences and meetings. They say there’s a solution and peace, but it’s all a joke. They’re all liars,” said Faraj Abu Anze, who is among tens of thousands of Palestinians living in a sprawling tent camp on the Mediterranean coast.
“We see nothing of that on the ground. There is no hope. Education and health care are gone. There is no life,” he said.