UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MbZ) accepted a US invitation to join US President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza, the Emirati Foreign Ministry announced on 20 January.
The decision was announced by the UAE’s Prime Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who said the move reflects the importance of “fully implementing” Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan.
He argued that the plan is “critical for the realisation of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” language that mirrors Washington’s framing despite Israel’s record of abuses, violations, and war crimes in Gaza.
The premier also voiced confidence in Trump’s leadership, citing the Abraham Accords, and said the UAE is “ready to contribute actively” to the board’s mission.
The UAE Foreign Ministry separately confirmed that Abu Dhabi would work inside the council to support “cooperation, stability, and prosperity for all.”
While presented as a peace mechanism, the initiative advances a US-led framework shaped without accountability for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a reality left unchallenged in the UAE’s statements.
Yet the UAE’s embrace of Washington’s Gaza ‘peace’ framework sits uneasily alongside mounting evidence that Abu Dhabi continues to bankroll and enable armed proxies accused of some of the worst atrocities unfolding across Gaza, Sudan, and Yemen.
Leaked documents and footage cited by Palestinian outlets point to the UAE backing armed gangs in the Gaza Strip, which are responsible for looting much of the already scarce aid entering the strip during the genocide and the famine that gripped the enclave.
These gangs include the notorious Abu Shabab group, which was reportedly supplied with weapons, vehicles bearing Emirati plates, and coordinated media support, in what sources describe as an effort to undermine Palestinian resistance by empowering rival armed elements inside the enclave.
The UAE also plays a direct role in the atrocities committed in Sudan.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) warned that the UAE-backed and armed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are. carrying out a systematic campaign of atrocities in Darfur, including rape, executions, arbitrary detention, torture, and mass killings during the siege and capture of El-Fasher
Prosecutors say they are preparing arrest warrant applications based on video, audio, and satellite evidence.
In Yemen, the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) – about one month before announcing its dissolution – launched an offensive in early December 2025 to consolidate control over southern Yemeni provinces, prompting Saudi airstrikes and exposing open friction with Riyadh. Abu Dhabi then announced a full military withdrawal from all Yemeni territory by 2 January under Saudi and Yemeni government pressure.