Cate Brown, Emma Graham-Harrison & Julian Borger
The Guardian / May 20, 2026
Diplomatic impasse and lack of progress on the ground has left countries that pledged funds to Board of Peace reluctant to pay.
Washington/Jerusalem – Gaza is in a grim limbo more than seven months after Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire deal: no reconstruction is under way, the so-called Board of Peace is struggling with funding and Palestinian technocrats chosen to run the strip are sidelined in Egypt.
In a 15 May submission to the UN security council, the Board of Peace said the “principal obstacle” to realising Trump’s plan for Gaza was Hamas’s refusal to hand over its weapons and cede control of the strip – but several people familiar with the body said funding shortfalls could jeopardise the effort.
Nine countries pledged $7bn (£5bn) to a “Gaza relief” package at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, which Trump chaired. But only the United Arab Emirates and Morocco have sent funds, according to a person familiar with its operations.
The group has received $23m to fund its operations, as well as an injection of $100m to fund a future Palestinian police force, the person said. In sum, that amounts to $1.75 for every $100 pledged.
The UN has estimated the total cost of rebuilding Gaza to be upward of $70bn over decades.
Several countries that initially pledged funds to the Board of Peace (BoP) are now reluctant to pay, after months of stalled diplomacy and no progress on the ground, according to five people familiar with the organisation.
“Countries are hesitant to pay their portions,” said one diplomat familiar with international negotiations about Gaza, who was not authorised to speak publicly. The Iran war has provided cover for delays to payments, another source said.
“Nobody with money and resources wants to work with the Board of Peace,” said a third person familiar with the group’s efforts, who, like others critical of the initiative, asked to speak on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “Lump on the conflict with Iran, and the people with deep pockets now have an excuse not to pay.”
Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat tasked with delivering the US president’s vision as “high representative” for Gaza admitted last week that Palestinians in Gaza had been let down by the world.
“The door to the future of Gaza is still closed. It is not what the Palestinians were promised, and it is not what they deserve,” Mladenov told journalists in Jerusalem. The impasse also jeopardised Israel’s long-term security, he added.
Mladenov’s 15 May report to the UN security council urged its donor states to contribute funds “without delay”. “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 BoP submission said.
A senior BoP official denied urgent funding challenges and said its donors remained committed. The appeal to the UN was made in the context of longstanding shortfalls in payments for UN aid programmes in occupied Palestine, the official said.
The board is confident it can collect pledges as needed to fund its programmes, which are still mostly in the planning stages, the official said. Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have all transferred money to support the group’s overhead costs and fund training for a Palestinian police force, he said.
A person familiar with the board denied Bahrain had transferred any money. The Bahraini embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump also pledged $10bn of US funding which has not been disbursed. Board officials have not formally requested the $10bn in pledged US funds, the senior official added. They are controlled by Jeremy Lewin, a US state department official.
Aryeh Lightstone, a key adviser on Middle East policy in both of Trump’s administrations, is “the only person” handling fundraising conversations for the BoP, a senior board official said. For months, Lightstone has shuttled between Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi and Washington to wrangle support for Trump’s vision, including with aid organisations to discuss Gaza’s needs.
Among the board’s expenses are the salaries for 12 Palestinians chosen to run a planned civilian administration in Gaza, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), who are in Egypt, waiting for security guarantees and diplomatic permissions to enter Gaza.
They are being paid an average of $16,000 to $17,000 a month, according to a person familiar with the committee. Mladenov is slated to earn about $400,000 a year for his role leading the BoP, according to records reviewed by the Guardian.
Asked about the figures, the senior BoP official said he could not comment directly. “I’m not the CFO … but those were eye-popping.”
A board spokesperson said the salary figures provided to the Guardian were “incorrect” and payments to Palestinian technocrats are modelled on the salary scale used by the Palestinian Authority. He declined to comment further.
The NCAG, which answers to Mladenov, has not had any tangible impact on Palestinian life inside the strip, the sources said. “Not a single bottle of water has come into Gaza under the NCAG flag since January 2026,” a person familiar with the committee said.
When the ceasefire deal for Gaza was agreed in October last year, critics and US allies warned it was dangerously vague on the fraught details of reconstruction, governance and security for Gaza. It called for an international force to secure Gaza, paving the way for reconstruction, an aid surge, the demilitarisation of Hamas and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
More than half a year on there is no international force or any actionable plans to create one. Israeli forces still control well over half of Gaza. They limit critical shipments of food and other aid.
Most survivors still live in makeshift, unsanitary camps; hunger is widespread; schools have not reopened; there are critical shortages of clean water; and healthcare is hobbled by damage to buildings and shortages of staff and supplies.
Trump and his aides have laid out plans for a future which could hardly be more removed from the current reality of ruins and humanitarian disaster. Over the past year, they talked about transforming the strip into a gleaming hub of tourism and trade, with airports, seaports and “AI-powered, smart cities” for Gazan residents.
“Let’s plan for catastrophic success,” Kushner said to potential donors in Davos in January. But there has been no significant work on reconstruction, even basic projects in the areas of Gaza under full Israeli military control.
Last year US officials said fenced semi-permanent camps could be ready to house thousands of Palestinians in those areas by summer.
Several contractors have submitted bids to clear rubble, provide security and build compounds in Gaza but said they have not received contracts for work.
“Nothing has happened. They haven’t even contracted to remove rubble,” said one person, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Mladenov acknowledged both sides have violated the ceasefire but repeatedly blamed Hamas for the lack of progress, saying the group must give up its weapons to pave the way for reconstruction.
At stake is the future of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, mostly displaced and desperate to rebuild after a war deemed genocidal by a UN commission, rights groups and genocide scholars.
In the unlikely event Hamas agreed to disarm, the BoP would be unable to deliver the support on the scale needed in the war-ravaged territory, said one person familiar with the body. “The worst outcome is that Hamas agrees to disarmament, and then says ‘go ahead, start delivering’,” they said. “What will they do?”
A senior Board of Peace official disputed that assessment. “It happens to be that we’re more than prepared and we would not fail,” they said.
Cate Brown is a Guardian US political enterprise reporter covering power and foreign influence in Washington
Emma Graham-Harrison is The Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, based in Jerusalem
Julian Borger is The Guardian’s senior international correspondent based in London
Additional reporting by Aram Roston
