Trump’s Board of Peace Announces $2.45 Billion Gaza Reconstruction Plan

Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has announced a $2.45 billion plan to support Gaza’s recovery through 66 programmes over six months, including housing, diesel-powered electricity generation, waste removal and other essential sectors, the BBC reported.

The announcement was made at a meeting held alongside the United Nations General Assembly session. The board said substantial additional donations were still needed despite pledges totalling $18 billion.

Only $280 million of the pledged funds has been transferred so far, according to the board. The board estimates that Gaza’s full recovery and reconstruction will require about $71.4 billion over the next decade.

Jared Kushner, a member of the Gaza Executive Board, an expanded arm of the Board of Peace, and Trump’s son-in-law, acknowledged that the project had faced delays in several areas.

“There have been different kinds of delays on different issues for different reasons,” Kushner told a meeting of board members and stakeholders. “The main objective today was really to show you that we are fully committed to implementing this.”

US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who was with Kushner in New York, said the group had made “real progress” over the past year.

“All the hostages have returned home. There is a ceasefire, however imperfect it may be, it is still holding,” Witkoff said. “The humanitarian effort has achieved historic results. Billions of dollars have been donated and pledged to meet urgent needs and support the long-term work of recovery.”

The plan also faces major challenges beyond fundraising, including ensuring the security of people working in Gaza, reforming internal governance and building consensus between Israeli and Palestinian officials.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a separate press conference on Wednesday that several countries had come forward with pledges of financial support.

“The board is interested in getting more countries to participate,” Rubio said.

Michael Eisenberg, an Israeli-American member of the Board of Peace, outlined possible next steps during an interview with the BBC’s NewsHour programme.

“Since this is a battlefield, unexploded ordnance must first be removed,” Eisenberg said. “There are also hundreds of kilometres of tunnels beneath Gaza that must be destroyed.”

“Once that work is completed, Gaza’s people can return to reconstruction,” Eisenberg said, referring to housing construction, improved sanitation systems and other necessary infrastructure.

Nikolay Mladenov, a senior Board of Peace official, criticised both Israel’s continuing air strikes on Gaza and Hamas’s actions in August. Mladenov warned at the time that the collapse of the ceasefire, which began in October last year, would create a situation with “no way back” for the region.

At least 1,381 Palestinians, including 300 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the US-mediated ceasefire began, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

The Israeli military has said five of its soldiers have been killed in combat since the ceasefire took effect. One contractor was also killed in an “operational accident”, according to the military.

The Board of Peace was formed as part of a 20-point Gaza peace plan jointly unveiled by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September last year.

Hamas had agreed to release the remaining 48 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and detainees from Gaza. Hamas had also agreed in principle to transfer Gaza’s administration to Palestinian technocrats.

Hamas said in July that it had adopted a plan to demilitarise Gaza, under which it would surrender its weapons on the condition that Israel end “all forms of aggression” and withdraw its forces from the territory.

Netanyahu later rejected the proposal, saying Israeli forces would remain in Gaza until Hamas was “genuinely” disarmed.

The Board of Peace was initially expected to operate as an international body focused on establishing peace in Gaza. Its scope was later expanded to include conflicts elsewhere in the world.