The UN-approved body said despite the state of emergency in Gaza, the promised funds have not materialized.
Published May 19, 2026
The group set up by US President Donald Trump to oversee management and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip has said it lacks the funding needed to advance these efforts.
According to media reports on Tuesday, President Trump’s so-called “peace commission” warned of a wide disparity between the funds disbursed and the $17 billion pledged to the organization.
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“The funds that have been promised but not yet disbursed represent the difference between the framework that exists on paper and the framework that will be provided to the people of Gaza on the ground,” said a May 15 report to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) cited by the news agency.
The lack of funding underscores concerns about the peace commission, which is already viewed with skepticism by critics as a way for Israel to circumvent traditional international institutions and aid groups that do not want to be involved in shaping the future of the devastated Palestinian territories.
News agency Reuters reported in April that the board had received only a small portion of the $17 billion in promised funding, but the board rejected the report at the time, saying there were “no funding constraints.”
The cost of rebuilding the Gaza Strip, a vast area of which was completely flattened by Israel’s genocidal war and subsequent efforts to destroy Palestinian homes and buildings, is estimated at $70 billion.
In its report, the commission estimated that 85 percent of Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed and that 70 million tons of rubble will need to be removed.
A May 15 report submitted to the Security Council said the funding gap needed to be filled “urgently” but gave no details on how large the funding gap was.
The peace commission was approved by the United Nations as part of a peace plan between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. However, many countries refuse to join this group. Countries such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have pledged funding to the board, along with Morocco, Uzbekistan and Kuwait.
Israel has continued to restrict humanitarian access to Gaza and carried out frequent attacks, killing more than 800 Palestinians there, since the so-called ceasefire took effect in October.
The committee blamed Hamas for the flaws in the ceasefire, saying it was refusing to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas issued a statement calling the report’s contents “false.”
Since the start of the war in October 2023, the United States has frequently shielded Israel from criticism and avoided blaming it for negotiation setbacks.
