The Peace Committee, an organization launched by United States President Donald Trump, has received only a small portion of the $17 billion pledged for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, preventing Trump from moving forward with plans for the enclave, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Sources told Reuters that of the ten countries that pledged funds, only three - the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco and the US itself - contributed to the funding.
Ten days before US-Israeli attacks on Iran plunged the Middle East into a multi-pronged conflict, Trump hosted a conference in Washington where Gulf states pledged funds for the management and reconstruction of Gaza after a two-year war with Israel.
The plan calls for a major infrastructure renovation of the enclave following the disarmament of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the withdrawal of the Israeli army.
The pledged funds were also intended to finance the activities of the newly established National Committee for the Governance of Gaza (NCAG), a US-backed group of Palestinian technocrats that aims to seize control of Gaza from Hamas.
One source said that funding so far was less than $1 billion, and that the war in Iran had "affected everything" and exacerbated previous funding difficulties.
The source added that NCAG was unable to enter Gaza due to financial and security concerns.
Even after a ceasefire was agreed in October last year, Israeli attacks have killed at least 700 people in Gaza, according to health officials, while Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed in militant attacks.
Another source, a Palestinian official familiar with the situation, said the board had informed Hamas and other Palestinian factions that NCAG could not currently enter Gaza due to a lack of funding.
Hamas has repeatedly stated that it is ready to hand over power to the NCAG, led by former Palestinian Authority Deputy Minister Ali Shat, which currently exercises limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank.
Shaat's committee is to take control of Gaza's ministries and run its police force.
He and 14 members of his board are being held in a Cairo hotel under the surveillance of American and Egyptian agents, a diplomatic source said.
Global institutions have projected that rebuilding Gaza, where about four-fifths of the infrastructure was destroyed in Israeli bombing, will cost about $70 billion.
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