US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that pledges made at the Board of Peace's first meeting will help get the war-torn Gaza Strip “ready for a renaissance”.
The board is part of a phased ceasefire plan introduced by the Trump administration in October that largely ended two years of war in Gaza. The US announced the launch of phase two of the plan last month.
The first phase included an end to the fighting, aid delivery, and the release of hostages and detainees. Despite the ceasefire, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since October.
“Who would ever have thought that we’d get to this place a year ago,” Mr Witkoff told Fox News in an interview with Lara Trump, the President's daughter-in-law, on the sidelines of Thursday’s Board of Peace meeting that aired on Sunday.
The $17 billion raised by Board of Peace members for the reconstruction of Gaza “is going to jump-start us”, he said.
“We are 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,” he added.
“This is the beginning … Today it’s 17 [billion dollars], tomorrow it could be 34,” the US envoy said.
The UN has estimated about $70 billion will be needed for reconstruction in the enclave.
Gaza has been devastated by more than two years of Israeli attacks on the strip, which killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and left much of it in ruins.
When Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, they killed about 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Last month, Mr Trump ratified the board's charter on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Twenty-five countries have signed up to the charter, including the UAE, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Israel accepted membership during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent visit to Washington.
Last month Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner presented a master plan for a New Gaza, proposing to transform the war-torn territory into a high-tech commercial centre within three years. The vision includes building high-rise luxury towers, industrial parks and a new port, all dependent on the demilitarisation of Hamas.
