Israel Rules Out Paying for Gaza Reconstruction Under Trump Plan

Israel will not contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip through U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, Ze’ev Elkin, a second minister in the Finance Ministry and member of the Security Cabinet, said Sunday.

“We will not fund the Board of Peace; there is no reason to,” Elkin told Kan Reshet Bet.

The statement clarifies Israel’s position as it participates in the initiative while avoiding direct financial responsibility for rebuilding Gaza. According to Kan News, the Trump administration allowed Israel to join the Board of Peace without contributing to reconstruction efforts or the organization’s operating expenses, a move that reportedly eased domestic political pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We were attacked,” Elkin said. “There is no reason for us to pay for the reconstruction.”

Kan News reported that other members of the board, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have each contributed more than $1 billion to the initiative. Israel’s exemption from funding stands in contrast to those contributions.

The Board of Peace, unveiled by Trump, is intended to oversee the reconstruction and stabilization of Gaza following the war. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff outlined the administration’s vision in an interview with Fox News’ “My View with Lara Trump” on Thursday.

Trump’s peace plan will get Gaza “ready for a renaissance,” Witkoff said.

The $17 billion, including $10 billion from the United States, raised by the Board of Peace “is going to jump-start us,” he added. “We’re going to have housing, and mass transportation, and we’re going to be able to clear and demolish all the areas there and get it ready for a renaissance.”

At the board’s inaugural meeting on Thursday, the president said he believes Hamas will lay down its weapons under the plan. He warned that the terrorist group would be “very harshly met” if it refuses to do so.

Board officials have repeatedly stressed that reconstruction would begin only after Gaza’s demilitarization, including Hamas’s full disarmament, so that the Strip no longer poses a threat to Israel.

Several senior Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have rejected key parts of the proposal in recent weeks, including disarmament, despite having agreed to it in October, according to prior reporting.

For now, Israel’s position is clear: it will take part in the diplomatic framework shaping Gaza’s future, but it will not finance the rebuilding of territory from which it says it was attacked.