Trump peace board unveils $2.45bn plan to rebuild Gaza
Reconstruction remains on hold as Israel and Hamas remain divided over disarmament and Israeli troop withdrawal
Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has unveiled a $2.45 billion (£1.85bn) plan to begin rebuilding Gaza, almost a year after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force.
The money would be spent over six months on 66 projects, including housing, power supplies and clearing waste and rubble.
But there is still no date for rebuilding work to begin, with Israel and Hamas yet to agree on key parts of the ceasefire deal.
The main sticking point is Hamas’s weapons.
Hamas has agreed to disarm as part of a process that would see Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza. Israel says Hamas must first fully give up its weapons before it forces pullout.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a member of the Gaza Executive Board, acknowledged that progress had been slower than hoped.
“The goal of today was really just to show you that we’re really fully committed to doing it,” he said at a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said progress had nevertheless been made over the past year.
“All of the hostages are home. There is a ceasefire, imperfect as it may be, but it still exists,” he said.
Money is another major challenge. Although $18 billion has been pledged towards Gaza’s recovery, only $280 million has so far been handed over, according to the BBC.
The Board of Peace estimates that rebuilding and recovering from the war will ultimately cost around $71 billion over the next decade.
Israeli-American board member Michael Eisenberg told the BBC that Gaza would first need to be cleared of unexploded weapons and Hamas’s extensive tunnel network dealt with before large-scale rebuilding could take place.
“Once that’s all done, Gazans can get to rebuilding again: whether it’s housing, or better sanitation, or other things,” he said.
The Board of Peace was created as part of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza war, which began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.