The announcement and the money
The Board of Peace, a body tied to Donald Trump’s Gaza diplomacy, said on Tuesday that it would start a $2.45bn reconstruction program in the Gaza Strip. The figure covers the first 18 months. It is not the full bill. World Bank and UN assessments put total damage above $50bn after 15 months of war. The board described the package as a down payment, not a settlement. Its chair, a former US envoy, said the money would move through a trust account audited by an outside firm. No funds would go to Hamas or groups under US sanctions.
Rubble, bombs, and the first contracts
About $1.1bn is set aside for rubble removal and explosive ordnance disposal. Gaza holds an estimated 42 million tonnes of debris. Some of it contains asbestos from older buildings, PCBs from transformers, and medical waste. EOD teams from Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE will train Palestinian crews. They will clear roads first: Salah al-Din, the coastal road, and the main routes into Khan Younis and Gaza City. The work is slow. A single 500kg bomb can stop a block for days. Contractors have been told to separate rebar, concrete, and scrap metal. Recycled concrete will go to temporary roads and foundations for clinics.
Water, sewage, and disease
Another $650m goes to water and sanitation. Before the war, Gaza’s coastal aquifer was already salty. Now pumping stations, desalination plants, and sewage lines are damaged or destroyed. WHO has tracked hepatitis A, diarrheal disease, and skin infections. Vibrio cholerae has not been confirmed in a major outbreak, but the risk remains. The plan funds 120 km of new water mains, 15 mobile desalination units, and emergency chlorination. UNRWA and UNICEF would run distribution. Israel would control the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings for pipes, cement, and chlorine. Each truck needs a permit. Aid groups say that is the bottleneck, not the cash.
Health care and shelters
The board allocated $400m for health. Gaza’s main hospitals, including Al-Shifa, Nasser, and Al-Aqsa, are partly or fully out of service. The money would repair emergency rooms, dialysis units, and neonatal wards. It would buy generators, oxygen plants, and cold chain equipment for vaccines. MSF and ICRC would assist. A separate $300m is for temporary housing: 60,000 shelter kits, 20,000 tents, and 5,000 prefabricated units. The units are meant for families who cannot return to northern Gaza. Winter rain and summer heat make tents a poor long-term answer. The board says permanent housing depends on a political agreement that does not yet exist.
Who pays and who watches
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the European Union have pledged contributions. The US is not giving direct reconstruction money. It is funding logistics and a monitoring team. The Palestinian Authority would hire civil servants and issue contracts, but an oversight board would approve every tender above $250,000. The board includes former officials from the World Bank, UNDP, and the ICRC. Hamas would have no seat. Israel would keep security control at the perimeter and would review names of workers. The arrangement echoes the Oslo Accords in one way: it creates joint committees without resolving final status. UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 are cited in the plan, but they do not settle borders or refugees.
Legal terms and historical references
The plan uses terms from previous agreements. It refers to the Gaza Strip as occupied territory under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It mentions UN Security Council Resolution 1860, which called for unimpeded humanitarian access. It uses the phrase Area A, Area B, and Area C only in a footnote, because those Oslo categories applied to the West Bank, not Gaza. The board avoids the word occupation in its public summary. That omission drew criticism from lawyers. They note that an occupying power must ensure food, medicine, and sanitation under the Hague Regulations of 1907. The board says it is a donor coordination body, not a sovereign authority. Its legal status is unclear. It has no treaty, no UN mandate, and no enforcement power.
Money flow and banking
The $2.45bn is held in a trust at a bank in Amman. Donors transfer funds in tranches. The first tranche is $600m. It pays for fuel, trucks, EOD equipment, and salaries for 2,500 workers. The second tranche depends on a 60-day review. If Israel blocks more than 20 percent of permit requests, the review can pause new contracts. Palestinian banks in Ramallah and Gaza handle cash distributions. They use SWIFT codes and comply with FATF rules. Some workers will be paid through mobile wallets. That reduces cash theft but excludes people without phones or ID. The board says it will use UNRWA lists for the most vulnerable households. UNRWA itself is under financial pressure. Its mandate runs to 2026.
Obstacles on the ground
Three problems could stop the work. First, the ceasefire is fragile. If fighting resumes, crews leave and insurance costs rise. Second, Hamas may try to tax or divert materials. The board says it will use GPS tracking on cement bags and random audits. Third, Israel may restrict dual-use items such as steel, pumps, and communications gear. A single denial can freeze a site for weeks. Palestinian contractors complain that they cannot get bank transfers because of sanctions screening. The board has promised a fast-track channel through a Jordanian bank.
How progress will be measured
The plan lists concrete targets for 18 months. Remove 8 million tonnes of rubble. Restore 120 km of water mains. Repair 10 hospitals and 40 clinics. Build 5,000 temporary housing units. Restore 120 MW of electricity through solar farms, generators, and line repairs. Clear 1,200 km of roads. Train 300 Palestinian EOD technicians. The board will publish monthly dashboards. It will not count money spent. It will count cubic meters cleared, liters of water delivered, and patients treated. That distinction matters. Previous Gaza pledges often disappeared into overhead and delays.
What it means for families
For a family in Jabalia camp, the first change may be a bulldozer on the street. For a farmer in Beit Lahia, it may be a repaired well. For a child in Rafah, it may be a classroom in a container. These are small steps. They do not rebuild a society. They do not answer who will govern Gaza after the war. But they can lower the death rate from dirty water and untreated wounds. They can let people return to a plot of land instead of a tent. The board’s $2.45bn will not solve Gaza. It may buy time. In a place where time is measured by truck permits and fuel queues, that is a concrete result.
