Donald Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a $2.45 billion (£1.8bn) plan to accelerate Gaza’s recovery, including rebuilding homes and hospitals and disarming Hamas.
The six-month programme, comprising 66 projects, was presented to members of the US president’s international body on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The proposals range from repairing roads, homes, schools, mosques and hospitals to expanding deliveries of food and fuel and improving internet and mobile phone connectivity.
Plans also include restoring Gaza’s ports and crossings, establishing warehouse and logistics hubs and creating a technology park and digital payment system.
More ambitious proposals would seek to revive Gaza’s judicial system and a Palestinian airline, while establishing a community radio station and a centre offering alternative mechanisms for resolving disputes.
The programme also contains a significant security component intended to advance the disarmament of Hamas.
Projects include clearing the terror group’s extensive tunnel network, establishing a weapons buy-back programme, mobilising the International Stabilisation Force and training a new Palestinian police force in Gaza.
The Board of Peace was established by Trump as part of his plan for Gaza following the Israel-Hamas war and is overseeing the territory’s transition and reconstruction.
The latest proposals focus on relatively rapid projects that could produce tangible improvements in conditions in Gaza over a six-month period, rather than the much larger and longer-term reconstruction effort required to rebuild the territory.
However, according to the BBC, the board admitted that substantial funding was lacking. While $18bn has been pledged, only $280m has been given to the project so far. The board has estimated that full recovery and reconstruction will require around $71.4bn over the next decade.
To get more Israel news, click here to sign up for our free Israel Briefing newsletter.