BUFAPEST, January 18. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has invited Hungary to join the Board of Peace that will administer the Gas Strip as a founding member, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced.

"Hungary’s efforts for peace are being recognised. President Trump has invited Hungary to join the work of The Board of Peace as a founding member. We have, of course, accepted this honourable invitation," he wrote on his X page and posted a photocopy of Trump’s letter reading, "As Chairman of the Board, I formally invite Hungary to join as a Founding Member State, and become a party to the Charter of The Board of Peace."

"This Board will be one of the kind, there has never been anything like it!" Trump said in the letter and attached a comprehensive peace plan for the Palestinian enclave and the Charter of the Board of Peace to be signed and ratified.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier that Orban had accepted Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace.

Such invitations have been sent to a number of other leaders.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing residents of border settlements and taking more than 250 hostages. In response, Israel initiated a military operation in the Palestinian enclave to dismantle Hamas' military and political structures and free all hostages.

Israel and Hamas resumed Egypt-, Qatar-, United States-, and Turkey-mediated indirect talks on settling the situation in the Gaza Strip on October 6. On October 9, the parties to the conflict signed an agreement on the implementation of phase one of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. The ceasefire came into effect on October 10. The ceasefire came into effect on October 10. Under the agreement, Israeli troops withdrew to the so-called Yellow Line but retained control over more than 50% of the enclave’s territory.

The second phase of the deal envisages the withdrawal of Israeli troops, deployment of an international stabilization force, as well the launch of enclave governance structures, including the so-called Board of Peace.