The arithmetic of Gaza’s reconstruction is unforgiving. The UN, European Union, and World Bank estimate the total cost at approximately $70 billion. Trump claimed this week that Board of Peace member countries had pledged $5 billion. Even accepting that figure at face value — and it has not been publicly documented — the gap between pledged and needed is $65 billion.
Closing that gap requires not just additional fundraising but a fundamental transformation of Gaza’s political and security environment. International investors will not commit funds to a territory where Hamas has not disarmed, where governance is unclear, where the legal framework for investment is undefined, and where the security situation makes project implementation impossible.
Kushner’s Davos vision of coastal tourism zones, data centers, and industrial parks is premised on attracting significant private investment alongside public funding. But private investment follows stability, legal certainty, and governance credibility — none of which currently exist in Gaza. Even optimistic assessments of how quickly these conditions could be created suggest years, not months.
The funding challenge is compounded by the $5 billion figure itself. If that number is not backed by formal, documented commitments, it risks the fate of many reconstruction pledging conferences: announcements made for political effect that do not translate into disbursed funds. Gaza has seen international pledging conferences before, with commitments that were only partially fulfilled.
Trump’s Board of Peace must transform these numbers — turning $5 billion in claimed pledges into verified commitments, and building a credible pathway toward the $70 billion total. Thursday’s first meeting is the start of that process. The distance between start and finish is enormous.
