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Trump Chairs the Inaugural Board of Peace Meeting, Feb. 19, 2026

February 19, 2026 · The White House · 2:21:07

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump chaired the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington on February 19, 2026, welcoming the heads of state and government who had traveled for it — “a big day,” he said, with the leaders not present “watching on Zoom.” “Together, we can achieve the dream of bringing lasting harmony to a region tortured by centuries of war,” he told them in his opening, presenting the board as “a model for how responsible sovereign nations can cooperate to take responsibility for confronting problems in their own regions.”

The meeting’s business, as announced from the stage: total pledges exceeding $6.5 billion for relief and rebuilding in Gaza, and thousands of personnel committed to preserve the cease-fire — including, as its president stated it, an Indonesian commitment of up to 8,000 or more troops for the International Stabilization Force. Vice President JD Vance introduced the assembled leaders. The President reviewed the cease-fire he credited his team with securing — “the cease-fire was held and every last remaining hostage both living and dead” was returned, as he stated it — and ranged across the conflicts he said his tariff and negotiation leverage had settled, before closing on the board’s charge: “the board of peace is going to lead the war in Gaza and make Gaza an example of success and safety and unity.”

Why it matters

This is the founding session of the President’s Board of Peace — the body, the pledges, and the stabilization-force commitments all stated on the record by the participating governments in one sitting — and the direct follow-through of the Gaza cease-fire framework the administration had negotiated the previous fall. It is recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: pledges exceeding $6.5 billion for Gaza relief and reconstruction and the troop commitments to the International Stabilization Force, all as announced at the meeting. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in the Board of Peace Event,” The White House, February 19, 2026 (official upload, embedded above; Washington, D.C., per the official description). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President, the Vice President, and participating leaders at the meeting.