As Donald Trump held the first meeting of his so-called Board of Peace in Washington on February 19, contracting documents leaked to The Guardian revealed what the Board is actually planning to build: a 5,000-person military installation spanning more than 350 acres in southern Gaza — a compound roughly 1,400 meters by 1,100 meters, ringed by 26 armored watchtowers, laced with bunkers, and equipped with a small-arms firing range and barbed-wire perimeter.

The base is envisioned as the operational headquarters for the International Stabilization Force, a multinational military body composed of troops from countries that have signed on to the Board of Peace. Five countries — Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania — have committed troops. Indonesia has reportedly offered up to 8,000 personnel. The UN Security Council has authorized the force. Trump has been named permanent chair of the Board under its charter.

The land where the base is to be built sits in southern Gaza, currently under Israeli military control. Who owns it is unclear. What is clear: no Palestinian government or authority consented to its construction. “Whose permission did they get to build that military base?” asked Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former peace negotiator who called the project straightforward occupation.

The contracting documents also include a “Human Remains Protocol” — a clause requiring all construction to halt if suspected human remains are found. An estimated 10,000 Palestinians are buried under Gaza’s rubble. The same stretch of southern Gaza where the base is planned was previously used as the site where the Tel al-Sultan aid worker massacre was covered up, and later as a food distribution point where starving Palestinians were shot. The US now plans to build a military installation there.

The Trump administration declined to discuss the documents. A spokesperson told the Guardian: “As the President has said, no US boots will be on the ground. We’re not going to discuss leaked documents.” Adil Haque, a professor of international law at Rutgers, described the Board of Peace as “a kind of legal fiction” — an empty shell for the United States to use as it sees fit, while maintaining the appearance of multilateral legitimacy.