Big names on Trump's Gaza peace panel face huge challenges

The White House has announced the first members of its Gaza "Board of Peace", and the list of names will do little to dispel the criticism from some quarters that the US president's plan resembles, at its heart, a colonial solution imposed over the heads of the Palestinians.

The UN estimates around 80% of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged and families who have survived the war are now struggling with the winter weather, and a lack of food and shelter.

Showing meaningful progress towards rebuilding will also be a Herculean task, involving not only the removal of an estimated 60 million tonnes of rubble, but first finding and disposing of the dead bodies and unexploded bombs contained within it.

Hamas has said it will only disarm as part of a wider deal establishing a Palestinian state. Israel, whose ground troops still control more than half of the Gaza Strip, has said it will only withdraw if Hamas disarms. How that catch-22 can be resolved is perhaps the biggest test of all.