Kenneth Glad
The initiative was presented as a vehicle for postwar recovery. Its financing is now under pressure before major work has started.
The official World Bank fund for Donald Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace has received no deposits, despite 17 billion dollars in combined pledges from member countries and Trump’s announced US funding, the Financial Times reported.
Four people familiar with the matter told the outlet that the World Bank account remains unused. One source said: “Zero dollars have been deposited in the account.”
Donations have instead gone through a J.P. Morgan account, the board says. The FT reported that this route does not require the same disclosure to donors or board members as the World Bank fund.
J.P. Morgan account draws scrutiny
An official connected to the board told the Financial Times that its leadership would be briefed “at an appropriate time.”
Morocco has contributed 3 million dollars and the United Arab Emirates 20 million dollars for planning and administration, writes the FT.
The UAE has also earmarked 100 million dollars for Gaza police training, but that money remains frozen.
A planned 50 million dollars from the US State Department is also pending while Congress reviews financial safeguards and whether the board qualifies for US support.
Trump chairs the body, according to Ekstra Bladet. Senior figures include Marco Rubio, Tony Blair, Steve Witkoff, Ajay Banga and Jared Kushner.
Democratic senator Brian Schatz said Rubio had described the board as similar to a UN-style institution, while Trump framed it differently.
“So I have no idea what it is. It makes no sense to me,” Schatz said.
Gaza work has not begun
Middle East Eye writes that a senior US official went to Saudi Arabia in April to seek promised funding from Riyadh.
Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American businessman who helped facilitate communications during US-backed ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, described the board’s financial position as “really dismal.”
He told the Financial Times that the organization had not been able to start work in Gaza because it lacked the funding required to carry out even its initial plans.
According to Bahbah, the gap between public funding commitments and money actually available to the board has become a major obstacle to getting reconstruction efforts underway.
That leaves the project caught between public pledges and practical limits. Without released funds, transparent controls and a settled legal framework, reconstruction planning risks staying on paper while Gaza’s recovery needs remain immediate.
For donors, the dispute also raises a basic question: Who controls the money, and how will it be spent?
Sources: Financial Times, Ekstra Bladet, Middle East Eye
