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You are listening to an art media podcast. It's Thursday, May 28th. This episode was recorded at 7:00pm New York time on Wednesday. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is Ark News Daily. On Tuesday, Israel killed Mohammed Oday in Gaza City. He was the newly appointed head of Hamas's military wing. He held the job for about a week after Israeli forces killed his predecessor. Oday was head of Hamas Military Intelligence on October 7. The IDF says he helped plan the massacre and then ran attacks and intelligence operations during the war. He's the fourth Hamas military chief Israel has killed since October 7th. But while Israel is dismantling the Hamas command, the governance structure meant to take their place is stuck in a tangle of legal and financial questions. The Financial Times reported yesterday that the international body Donald Trump created to govern and rebuild post war Gaza, the Board of Peace, has not spent a single dollar inside the area. No reconstruction contracts have been awarded and no one is operating on the ground. The current estimate to rebuild Gaza is about $70 billion, according to the Financial Times. The World bank set up a fund to receive donations for the board, but donors have instead been routing money through a JP Morgan account held directly by the board. That account has no independent transparency requirements. The Board of Peace itself is on shaky legal ground. US Lawmakers have questioned whether it qualifies as an international organization eligible to receive funds, and the State Department hasn't given them clear answers. The board cannot receive any US Money until that question is resolved for would be contractors. This creates a lot of uncertainty, one told the Financial Times. They don't know who's responsible for Gaza and what laws they're working under, he said. There's a lot of risk for the companies that try to do this. Another complicating factor is the ongoing negotiations with Hamas. The group has not disarmed, and under the current plan, that's a requirement for the rebuild phase to begin. When the Board of Peace was first announced, Trump described it as one of the most consequential international organizations ever created. His team later unveiled glossy renderings of a futuristic AI powered Gaza with gleaming towers. But so far that's been little more than rhetoric. Until these larger questions are answered, Gaza is left in limbo. President Trump is talking about adding another dimension to the emerging Iran deal. At a Cabinet meeting yesterday, he said he wants the remaining Gulf countries to join the Abraham Accords as part of any final agreement. It'll be historic if they do it. I think they owe that to us, to be honest. The accords are the agreements Trump brokered in his first term. They got several Arab states to officially recognize Israel for the first time. The countries Trump is pushing now are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. Egypt and Jordan already have separate peace treaties with Israel, but none of the others have formal diplomatic relations. The move risks complicating what's already been a difficult negotiation process. One analyst quoted in Time magazine said Trump is trying to switch horses mid race. Having failed to force Iran's unconditional surrender, he is now trying to sell an equally improbable farce, tying regional peace to a fragile diplomatic agreement that in no way addresses the root of the conflict. The larger concern is that Arab governments may walk away from mediating talks rather than risk backlash from establishing ties with Israel. Other officials say that this is just Trump trying to appease Republicans who worry he'll give away too much to Iran. According to Politico, the reaction so far has been a mix of sarcasm, dismissal and silence. One former US Official received laughter emojis after sending mock notes to Arab countries congratulating them on joining the accords. In the meantime, the actual framework of the Iran deal is still being contested. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the meeting yesterday there's been some progress on a final deal, and the next few days would reveal more. A new Israeli study is offering one of the clearest looks yet at whether aging can be stopped at the cellular level. The study was done by researchers at Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv University and the US National Institute on Aging. The caveat is that it was done on mice, not humans, but what they found could still be significant. The team studied mice that were roughly the equivalent of 70 to 80 in human years. They focused on a protein, SIRT6, sometimes called the longevity protein. It plays a role in several essential functions inside the cell, including how DNA is packaged and organized. The scientists increased SIRT 6 levels in the livers of the elderly mice, and what they found is that some age related DNA changes not only slowed down, they actually reversed. Professor Chaim Cohen at Bar Ilan University told the Times of Israel that the results are exciting because they suggest that aging may be more plastic than previously thought. He added that we have a good solid argument to say that whatever we find in mice, we will also find in humans. I'm Debra Pardes and this is ArkNews Daily. See you tomorrow. Sam.