‘Zero dollars’ – Board of Peace fund empty despite billions in pledges – report

Report claims that despite donor states pledging $17 billion, the Board of Peace fund hasn’t received any money whatsoever.

By World Israel News Staff

Donald Trump’s postwar Gaza reconstruction plan is facing new scrutiny after a Financial Times report said the official World Bank-administered fund created for his Board of Peace has not received any donor money, despite billions of dollars pledged by the US and partner governments.

The Board of Peace was launched earlier this year to oversee Trump’s Gaza plan, which called for Hamas to disarm, Israeli forces to withdraw in phases, a Palestinian technocratic committee to administer the Strip and international funds to begin rebuilding the war-damaged enclave.

But four months after its creation, the formal World Bank fund attached to the board has received no deposits, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing four people familiar with the matter.

“Zero dollars have been deposited,” one source told the newspaper.

The board has claimed that money has come through other channels.

A Board of Peace official told the Financial Times that “a number of options were established to receive funding” and that “contributors have opted to use other options.”

According to the report, donations have instead gone into a JPMorgan account controlled by the board rather than the World Bank mechanism.

The arrangement has raised oversight questions because the JPMorgan account does not carry the same reporting obligations as the World Bank-administered fund, according to the Financial Times.

The board’s spokesperson said it would report financial information to its executive board “at a time deemed appropriate.”

The funding issue follows earlier warnings that the board’s reconstruction framework was short of usable money.

In a May 15 report to the UN Security Council reviewed by Reuters, the board said “the gap between commitment and disbursement must be closed with urgency.”

“Funds committed but not yet disbursed represent the difference between a framework that exists on paper and one that delivers on the ground for the people of Gaza.”

The board has previously denied that it faces funding constraints, telling Reuters it is an “execution-focused organization that calls capital as needed” and that there “are no funding constraints.”

Reuters reported that $17 billion had been committed to the board earlier this year, including pledges from the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Morocco, Uzbekistan and Kuwait.

The Financial Times report said Morocco has contributed about $20 million, which has helped fund the office of Nickolay Mladenov, the board’s high representative for Gaza, and salaries for the Palestinian technocratic committee formed to govern the territory.

The United Arab Emirates contributed $100 million for training a new Gaza police force, but the funds remain frozen and the program has not begun, according to the report.

The Times of Israel reported earlier this month that the UAE transfer was the largest received by the board to date, but that less than 1% of the $17 billion pledged had been transferred.

The proposed Gaza police force is meant to fall under the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the Palestinian technocratic body intended to replace Hamas rule in the Strip.

The committee has not entered Gaza, and the police force has not begun training.

The US State Department has also committed to redirecting about $1.2 billion in aid spending toward projects aligned with the board’s agenda, but those funds have not yet been spent and are not being managed by the Board of Peace, according to the Financial Times.

A separate proposed $50 million transfer for the board’s operational costs has also not been distributed.

The board says it has begun tendering for security and reconstruction work, but no contracts have been awarded.

“A lot of it is because we’re not operating in Gaza yet,” a board spokesperson told the Financial Times, pointing to Hamas’ refusal to disarm.

Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American scholar involved in contacts with Hamas for the Trump administration, said the Palestinian committee cannot begin operating because it lacks resources.

“They know that if they go to Gaza, people are going to flood to them to ask for assistance, and they have no tools, no means,” Bahbah said.