The new international body was established and endorsed by the United Nations in November. However, some analysts say the board’s expanding charter may rival the United Nations.

That’s at the high level, though. On the immediate, human level, Fadi Sharaiha with the MENA Leadership Center, believes “phase two” of the Gaza ceasefire isn’t actually changing life. 

“The church now is really shrinking. I think we have maybe 300 Christians now in Gaza,” he says.

(Photo of two women sitting amid ruins in Gaza courtesy of Hosny Salah via Pexels)

If the Board of Peace succeeds where transitional bodies have failed in other conflicts, it could open the way for true hope for Gaza. 

“I have so much empathy, because I feel that ‘What if this is my family in Gaza?’” Sharaiha says. “Let me paint the picture: for the last two years since October 7, what’s happening is that you are looking for food, for basic food, your kids are not going to school. You don’t have hope — and this is what is bothering me, that people over there don’t have hope. I think hope is so crucial to any human being.”

As people in Gaza look to a bleak future, Sharaiha says, “This would be so difficult to maneuver around, you know — how to give them hope? That’s why I think that there’s only one hope that we can give people of Gaza, which is Jesus, the hope of Jesus Christ.” 

Waiting to bring help

Once some type of stability or peace comes to Gaza, Sharaiha says, the MENA Leadership Center is ready to serve with trauma healing and other interventions. 

“In the MENA [region] we have so many different war zones,” Sharaiha says, naming Syria, Libya and Sudan in addition to Gaza. “There is a need for some kind of psychological intervention.”

(Photo courtesy of MLC)

That’s why the center offers what they call “psychological first aid” — things like the February 16-18, 2026 course “Resilience: How to Endure Life’s Challenges,” which Sharaiha said dozens of believers from at least 14 different nations enrolled in.

Please pray for the MENA Leadership Center’s continued presence and discernment to support a diverse church family.  

“Pray for us that we will be in the right place, in the right time, with the right people, with the right partnerships,” says Sharaiha. “Pray for wisdom, and that we will be following the Holy Spirit, that we will be aligned with His will.”

Please also pray that God will mercifully bring the gospel of peace to those caught in Gaza’s conflict. 

“What’s happening in Gaza is being affected, impacted by what’s happening in Iran. What’s happening in Iran is being affected by what’s happening in Russia, Ukraine. What’s happening in Russia, Ukraine is impacted [by] what’s happening in China. So the whole world is really connected,” says Sharaiha. 

“My prayer is that the Lord will use this time for His glory. My prayer is that the Lord will shine His peace in the region and give the people [a] break.”

Header photo: Board of Peace Charter Announcement and Signing Ceremony January 2026 (Photo courtesy of President.az, the website of the President of Azerbaijan, CC BY 4.0)