Israel bars US contractor from Gaza, blocking base for Moroccan and Kosovan troops
Israel is blocking US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace from building a military base in Gaza to house troops from Morocco and Kosovo, the Guardian has reported.
In August, the board awarded US-based Arkel International its first Gaza construction contract.
The company was tasked with building a military outpost for 150 troops who would form the vanguard of a controversial international stabilisation force comprised of countries friendly to Israel.
Two months later, Israel still refuses to let the contractor enter Gaza or begin construction, the British newspaper reported.
“Israel won’t open the border,” a person familiar with the matter told the Guardian.
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The Board of Peace emerged following the 10 October 2025 ceasefire deal. Since then, Israel has killed more than 1,488 Palestinians and wounded at least 5,281.
Israeli attacks have killed almost one child every day during that period, according to the UN.
Its genocide in Gaza has killed more than 74,377 Palestinians and wounded more than 175,398. Thousands more are missing and presumed dead under the rubble, while denial of medical aid has also killed a significant number.
'You can't even start'
Arkel planned to build a “mission support site temporary outpost”: A fortified base measuring 100 metres by 100 metres, with earth barriers.
The base would house rotating deployments of around 150 troops drawn from a larger contingent of 500 personnel from Morocco and Kosovo.
Both countries’ decisions to send troops to help Israel occupy Palestinian land in Gaza have provoked controversy at home.
Civil society groups and academics have condemned the deployments as aiding and abetting Israel.
Israel’s refusal to permit even a rudimentary base exposes who calls the shots over the Board of Peace.
“There’s no security. There’s no deliveries of construction equipment. You can’t even start putting utilities," a person familiar with the project told the Guardian.
"You can’t start putting in basic life-support facilities you know because without the ISF (International Stabilization Force) you can’t go in.”
Trump hailed the board’s creation as marking an end to Israel’s war on the besieged strip.
Israeli leaders, however, are working to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its indigenous population and replace Palestinian communities with Jewish-only settlements.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have advocated policies to make life unbearable for Palestinians, leaving them with no choice but to leave Gaza.
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