Liran Tancman, an Israeli tech entrepreneur and former officer in the Israeli Intelligence Corps who co-founded the Israeli Cyber Command, said Thursday, February 19, 2026, that restoring Gaza’s digital connectivity and integrating it economically with the rest of the world is essential to meeting the territory’s urgent humanitarian and developmental needs.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace—the $10 billion private peace initiative launched by U.S. President Donald Trump—in Washington, D.C., Tancman argued that Gaza’s isolation since the escalation of conflict on October 7, 2023, has destroyed much of its telecommunications and economic infrastructure. He described reconnection as both a practical necessity and a return to Gaza’s historical role as a vital trade link between Asia and Europe.
“Since October 7, 2023, as a result of Israel’s attacks, most of the infrastructure in Gaza, including telecommunications, has been damaged or become unusable,” Tancman stated. “Gaza was once a vital trade hub… making this reconnection a return to its historical roots.”
Tancman highlighted ongoing work by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which he said is building a secure digital backbone and an open platform to enable:
Electronic payments and financial services
E-learning platforms
Telemedicine and digital healthcare access
He emphasized that the platform is designed to keep users in control of their personal data, with strong privacy safeguards.
Tancman noted that the initiative has received “significant support from regional partners,” bringing together Palestinian, Arab, and U.S. stakeholders to deliver practical solutions. In parallel, he described an advanced logistics system—modeled on Amazon-style e-commerce—that would allow Palestinians to launch businesses, import goods globally, and trade securely.
“This will lower prices, drive growth and help transform Gaza into an open, transparent and corruption-free economic zone,” he asserted.
According to Tancman, NCAG consultations revealed a clear demand from Gazans to replace corruption with an open, tax-free economic system. He presented the proposed model as a pathway to replace informal and exploitative networks with transparent, rules-based commerce.
Tancman is a co-founder of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), established during Israel’s months-long blockade of Gaza that severely restricted commercial and humanitarian entry. GHF has drawn criticism from human rights organizations after several incidents in which civilians waiting for food aid at distribution centers were killed or injured in attacks. Human Rights Watch and UN agencies have documented cases in which aid distribution points appeared to serve as intelligence-gathering or targeting locations for Israeli forces.
Tancman has also previously collaborated with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI). While TBI has been linked in some media reports to discussions of large-scale relocation of Gazans, the institute has publicly rejected and distanced itself from any such proposals.
In addition, Daraj Media and other investigative outlets have reported that Tancman helped develop early concepts (as far back as 2015) for requiring Palestinians to undergo biometric vetting to receive humanitarian aid. Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have strongly criticized biometric and digital tracking systems in Gaza aid distribution, warning that they turn humanitarian zones into de facto surveillance and targeting points for military operations.
Tancman’s presentation at the Board of Peace meeting reflects a growing focus among some tech and policy entrepreneurs on digital infrastructure and economic liberalization as pathways to post-conflict recovery in Gaza. The Board of Peace, funded by Trump’s $10 billion personal pledge, aims to support conflict prevention, mediation, stabilization, and humanitarian initiatives through private-sector-led efforts outside traditional UN frameworks.
While Tancman’s remarks highlighted technical and economic solutions, they also drew attention to the controversial track record of some of the initiatives and individuals involved. Critics argue that digital connectivity and e-commerce platforms in Gaza cannot be divorced from broader questions of access to basic humanitarian aid, freedom of movement, and protection of civilian data in an active conflict zone.
The Board of Peace’s first meeting included representatives from several founding nations, including Albania and Romania, which have already pledged specific humanitarian and reconstruction support for Gaza. Discussions are expected to continue on how private-sector proposals, such as Tancman’s digital backbone and logistics concepts, can be integrated with governmental and multilateral efforts.
Gaza’s telecommunications infrastructure has suffered extensive damage since October 2023, with repeated outages of mobile networks, internet services, and electricity supply severely limiting access to information, banking, education, and healthcare coordination. Rebuilding secure, resilient digital systems is widely regarded as a prerequisite for any meaningful economic recovery.
As the Board of Peace begins operational planning, Tancman’s presentation underscores the intersection of technology, humanitarian aid, and geopolitics in addressing one of the most protracted and complex crises in the Middle East.
