US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has announced a Gaza recovery plan worth $2.45bn (£1.85bn) during a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The funding will be spread across 66 programmes over six months, and directed at housing, diesel generation and waste removal, among other needs.
But the board admitted substantial donations were still needed, with $18bn pledged but only $280m handed over so far. The board estimates full recovery and reconstruction will require about $71.4bn over the next decade.
Jared Kushner, Gaza Executive Board member and Trump’s son-in-law, conceded the project faced “different delays on different things, for whatever reason”.
“The goal of today was really just to show you that we’re really fully committed to doing it,” he told the meeting of board members and stakeholders.
He was joined in New York by US envoy Steve Witkoff, who said the group had made “real progress” over the past year.
“All of the hostages are home. There is a ceasefire, imperfect as it may be, but it still exists. Humanitarian efforts have achieved historic results, with billions of dollars donated and pledged to meet urgent needs and support the long work of recovery,” Witkoff added.
In addition to fundraising, the plan faces significant challenges including how to ensure security for those operating in Gaza, overhaul internal governance and find consensus between Israeli and Palestinians officials.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a separate press conference on Wednesday that “a number of countries have stepped forward and pledged financial assistance” and the board was “looking for more that will participate in that”.
Michael Eisenberg, an Israeli-American Board of Peace member, told the BBC’s Newshour programme what the next steps were likely to be.
“Because it’s a war zone, you need to remove unexploded ordnance. And then there are still hundreds of kilometres of tunnels underneath Gaza which need to be destroyed as well.
“Once that’s all done, Gazans can get to rebuilding again: whether it’s housing, or better sanitation, or other things,” Eisenberg said.
