President Nikos Christodoulides is due to meet former British prime minister Sir Tony Blair on Monday, amid renewed diplomatic efforts concerning the future governance and reconstruction of Gaza.

The presidency announced the meeting on Friday but did not provide further details on the agenda. Blair is on the board of the Gaza Board of Peace initiative, which is expected to hold meetings in Cyprus on June 30 and July 1.

Government officials have repeatedly stressed that Cyprus is not organising or co-organising the meetings and participates only in discussions relating to proposals for Gaza’s future administration and reconstruction.

Cyprus foreign ministry spokesman told the Cyprus Mail on Saturday that Cyprus is only involved “in the proposals concerning the plan for Gaza, which arise from the decisions of the United Nations Security Council and Resolution 2803”.

The Cypriot proposal is structured around six operational pillars and builds on the experience gained from the “Amalthea” initiative, (Cyprus initiative for a sea humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza) which operates through a bilateral security mechanism in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

The discussions come as international attention returns to Gaza following recent regional tensions. In a joint statement issued on Thursday after a ministerial meeting between the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the “historic participation” of Gulf states in the Board of Peace and reaffirmed support for President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803.

The statement stressed the need for the demilitarisation of non-state armed groups in Gaza and for governance responsibilities to be transferred to an independent Palestinian technocratic body, a framework which aligns with the role envisaged for the National Committee for Gaza Administration.

According to initial reports by the Times of Israel, the meetings in Cyprus are expected to bring together representatives of the Board of Peace’s supervisory structures, members of the Palestinian technocratic body tasked with eventually replacing Hamas in the governance of Gaza, and officials from the office of the board’s high representative, former UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Nikolay Mladenov.

It remains unclear whether the main executive body of the Board of Peace, chaired by US President Donald Trump, will participate directly, or whether the meetings will instead involve the Gaza Executive Council and the National Committee for Gaza Administration (NCAG), the Palestinian technocratic body established as part of the post-war governance framework. 

Blair, who has played various diplomatic and advisory roles in the Middle East over the past two decades, has been linked to the broader Board of Peace initiative established under the UN-backed framework for post-conflict governance in Gaza.