The European Union said Monday it has coordinated efforts to raise 900 million euros, or $1 billion, in pledges for Gaza’s rebuilding after two years of Israeli bombardment left much of the Palestinian enclave in ruins. The money comes wrapped in the language of recovery, but the facts on the ground are uglier: reconstruction is still unclear, the ceasefire is effectively stalled, and civilians remain trapped in the wreckage.
Who Pays for Ruin
European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica announced the fund after a meeting in Brussels of the Palestine Donors Group, which includes EU and Middle East nations along with international organizations and financial institutions. Suica said the ceasefire in Gaza remains fragile and the situation on the ground for civilians is not getting better. She said the money will move through trusted partners but didn’t give details. That’s the machinery of relief as it so often works: decisions made high above the people living through the destruction, with the route for the money still vague and the timeline still hazy.
How much of the money will actually be delivered, and when reconstruction of Gaza can begin, is unclear. The ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that took effect in October is effectively stalled. Mladenov has made clear that the next steps in implementing the ceasefire are stalled over the difficult issue of disarming Hamas militants in Gaza. The people of Gaza wait while institutions debate conditions, mechanisms and “trusted partners.”
Rubble, Delay, and Control
Few places in the Palestinian territory of over 2 million people have been left unscathed. The United Nations, World Bank and EU estimate reconstruction will cost $70 billion. The U.N. has said Gaza has more than 60 million tons of rubble, enough to fill nearly 3,000 container ships. It will take over seven years to clear, with additional time for demining. That’s not a rebuilding plan so much as a ledger of devastation, measured in tons, ships and years.
The meeting in Brussels also brought together Nickolay Mladenov, the head of the Board of Peace set up by U.S. President Donald Trump to lead Gaza’s reconstruction; Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Ali Shaath, the head of the new Palestinian committee meant to administer Gaza’s daily affairs but still unable to enter; and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. The people meant to administer daily life can’t even get in. The people with the titles and the mandates can meet in Brussels, but Gaza itself remains boxed out of the room.
Mustafa said, “We are investing not only in the Palestinian future but also in the regional stability, shared security and just and lasting peace for everyone together,” and called for “a resilient, sovereign, contiguous and viable Palestinian state” — something Israel’s current government has opposed. The Palestinian Authority seeks a role in Gaza’s reconstruction, but the U.S. 20-point plan only makes a reference to the possibility of a future Palestinian state. The promise is there in words, but only as a possibility, and only on paper.
What They Call Pressure
Separately, top diplomats from the 27-nation EU debated how to respond to increased Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. The bloc’s executive, the European Commission, has tabled options including cutting off trade with Israeli settlements in the territory. Nations like Ireland and Spain are calling for forceful action. The Czech Republic, Germany and others alongside the commission are more cautious, seeking to apply incremental pressure. Some nations have signaled they would veto sanctions.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova-Chamova said, “Do sanctions have a meaningful impact or not? What role could they play as a political message, and would this be escalatory in a wrong direction?” The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the European Council’s legal service had found that severing trade ties with Israeli settlements in the West Bank — not technically sanctions — would require a majority vote and not total unanimity from bloc members. Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel said a clear majority in the EU agrees on severing commercial ties with the settlements. He dismissed arguments that tough action would boost Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances in an election in October: “I hope that now it’s time for decisions.”
The whole affair lays out the hierarchy plainly. The people at the bottom face bombardment, rubble and blocked access. The people at the top debate votes, legal definitions and whether pressure might be “escalatory.” The apparatus calls it reconstruction. The ground still looks like ruin.