The Gaza Strip is to receive a donation of almost €900 million ($1 billion) from Europe after an EU-backed conference raised funds to rebuild the troubled territory.
With nearly half a million residents living in tents due to Israel’s war with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which the US, the EU and other countries consider a terrorist organization, the funding will first go to providing basic water and sanitation facilities to the Palestinian territory, as well as restoring the health and food systems of the Gaza Strip, battered by the war with Israel.
The team will coordinate efforts to rebuild the Gaza Initiative enclave.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said reforms were needed to continue support for the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian representatives, as well as representation from the peace board established by US President Donald Trump, were among those invited to the conference.
How much money is needed to rebuild Gaza?
According to a May 2026 UN report, the recovery and construction work required in the Gaza Strip is estimated at $71.4 billion (€62.6 billion).
The report also said 371,888 houses have been directly affected by the war, three-thirds of the enclave’s housing stock. 85% of the affected houses were completely destroyed.
Approximately 1.9 million Palestinians – more than 90% of the Strip’s population – have been displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas, some of them multiple times.
The war broke out following Hamas-led terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, which left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, while 251 were taken hostage.
What is the situation in Gaza now?
More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, many of them women and children. The UN report said about 450 of them were killed between the announcement of the ceasefire and mid-January 2026.
About 70% of the Gaza Strip is still under the control of Israeli forces, with the rest still managed by Hamas, which has so far refused to lay down its arms as agreed in an October 2025 ceasefire deal brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar.
The Peace Board, a technical body led by Bulgarian diplomat Nikolay Mladenov, was established to manage the civilian affairs of the Gaza Strip.
Is the Gaza War considered genocide?
In September 2025, the organization’s investigative body, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, blamed Israel for committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Many high-profile human rights organizations in Israel and around the world also consider the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza to be genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is currently considering a genocide case brought by South Africa in 2023.
Israel has repeatedly denied the claim.
Edited by: Jennifer Cimino Gonzalez