Trump’s Board of Peace: October 7 Cast a Long Shadow Over Thursday’s Meeting

The two-year war that Gaza’s peace process is trying to end was ignited by a specific event: Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack into Israel. That attack killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 hostage. It changed the political landscape of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict fundamentally — and it haunts every aspect of the peace negotiations that Trump’s Board of Peace is now attempting to manage.
For Israel, October 7 established a new threshold for what it considers an acceptable security environment. The idea of Hamas retaining any military capacity, any governance role, or any presence in Gaza is, for many Israelis, simply unacceptable given what happened. Netanyahu’s demand that Hamas surrender approximately 60,000 rifles reflects that political reality — a baseline set by the trauma of October 7.
For Hamas, October 7 was a strategic gamble whose consequences for Palestinians in Gaza have been catastrophic. The retaliatory Israeli military campaign has devastated the territory, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and created humanitarian conditions of extreme deprivation. Hamas’s willingness to continue negotiations while retaining military capacity suggests an organization that is not fully reckoning with the consequences its actions set in motion.
For the Arab and Muslim members of the board, October 7 complicates their position. They must acknowledge the attack’s seriousness while simultaneously pressing for Israeli restraint in a military response that has caused enormous Palestinian civilian suffering. Threading that needle requires political dexterity that the board’s first meeting Thursday would need to demonstrate.
The Board of Peace cannot undo October 7. But it must build a framework that makes another October 7 impossible — through disarmament, governance change, and security arrangements that address Israel’s legitimate security concerns while creating a viable political future for Palestinians.