President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a $2.45bn plan yesterday to begin rebuilding Gaza, but officials acknowledged it faces an uncertain future as Israel and Hamas remain at odds over terms of a US-backed ceasefire.
The proposal, laid out by board officials at an event during the UN General Assembly in New York, consists of 66 programmes that would rehabilitate Gaza’s infrastructure and economy, destroyed by two years of full-scale Israeli military assault.
It was the latest plan aimed at advancing Trump’s Gaza ceasefire, which was announced nearly a year ago but has failed to halt Israeli attacks on Gaza, including one yesterday that killed four people including a Hamas official.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New York: “Obviously this is a longterm project. It’s not something that can happen in six months. But at least gives people a hope. Here’s the future that awaits you if everyone does their part.”
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called for the full implementation of Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, while stressing the need to address Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
l Israeli air strikes killed at least four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip yesterday, local health officials said, and Israel said one of the attacks targeted a Hamas finance chief.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, in a joint statement, described one deceased Mohammad Abu Elwan as a senior Hamas finance official. “We will not allow Hamas to rebuild its strength, and we will not stop until Hamas no longer exists in Gaza,” the joint statement said.
Palestinian health officials said two people had also been killed in Gaza City and in Deir Al Balah.
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