Trump's Gaza Reconstruction Board Faces Funding Shortfall

A body set up by United States President Donald Trump to oversee the administration and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip has said that it is short of the funds needed to move forward with those efforts.

Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” has warned of a significant gap between the funds disbursed and the $17bn pledged to the organisation, according to media reports on Tuesday.

“Funds committed but not yet disbursed represent the difference between a framework that exists on paper and one that delivers on the ground for the people of Gaza,” a May 15 report to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) cited by news outlets says.

The funding shortfalls underscore concerns about the Board of Peace, already viewed sceptically by critics as a means of sidestepping traditional international organisations and aid groups that Israel does not want involved in shaping the future of the devastated Palestinian territory.

The news service Reuters reported in April that the board had received only a small portion of the $17bn in pledged funds, a report the body rejected at the time, stating there were “no funding constraints”.

The cost of reconstructing Gaza, large swathes of which have been completely levelled during Israel’s genocidal war and subsequent efforts to demolish Palestinian homes and buildings, has been estimated at $70bn.

The board estimated in its report that 85 percent of Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed and that 70 million tonnes of rubble need to be cleared.

The May 15 report before the UNSC said that funding gaps must be closed “with urgency”, without offering details of how big the gap was.

The Board of Peace was approved by the UN as part of a peace plan between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas. But many countries have declined to participate in the body. Countries such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have pledged funds to the board, along with Morocco, Uzbekistan and Kuwait.

Israel has continued to restrict humanitarian access to Gaza and to carry out frequent strikes that have killed more than 800 Palestinians there since the so-called ceasefire went into effect in October.

The board laid blame on Hamas for the shortcomings of the ceasefire, stating that the group has refused to relinquish control in the Gaza Strip. Hamas released a statement slamming what it says are “fallacies” in the report.

The US has frequently shielded Israel from criticism and avoided blaming it for setbacks to negotiations since the October 2023 beginning of the war.