Board of Peace unveils $2.45 billion plan to begin rebuilding Gaza

New York, United States. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a $2.45 billion plan on Wednesday to begin rebuilding Gaza. Officials said its future remains uncertain as Israel and Hamas remain at odds over the terms of a US-backed ceasefire.

Reconstruction proposal

Board officials presented the proposal during the UN General Assembly in New York. It sets out 66 programs to rehabilitate Gaza’s infrastructure and economy after two years of full-scale Israeli military assault.

The plan estimates physical damage in Gaza at $35.2 billion and says full recovery and reconstruction will require about $71.4 billion over the next decade. It calls for repairing border crossings, restoring electricity and water infrastructure, deploying 25,000 portable solar power kits and permanently filling tunnels beneath sites needed for priority reconstruction projects.

Ceasefire obstacles

The proposal is the latest effort to advance Trump’s Gaza ceasefire, announced nearly a year ago. Although the ceasefire ended major fighting, it has not halted Israeli attacks. An attack on Wednesday killed four people, including a Hamas official.

Reconstruction has yet to begin because negotiators have not agreed on conditions for Hamas to lay down its weapons and Israel to withdraw its troops. Most buildings have been destroyed, and more than 2 million residents are confined to about a third of the enclave’s territory, mostly in tents or crowded rooms in damaged buildings.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New York that rebuilding was a long-term project that could not be completed in six months, but said the plan offered people hope for the future if everyone did their part.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who devised the plan while backing Israel’s right to “finish the job” in Gaza if Hamas does not disarm, acknowledged that it faced “different delays on different things, for whatever reason.” He said officials were refining the proposal in preparation for work to begin, which he hoped would happen soon.