Trump’s push for Gulf to pay for rebuilding Gaza faces hurdles
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
While Gulf states were enthusiastic in endorsing US President Donald Trump's peace plan, they have specific reservations about unconditionally providing funding.
PHOTO: EPA
Follow topic:
When US President Donald Trump spoke in Israel’s Parliament, ahead of the signing of his Gaza peace plan
That appeared to resolve the question – to the US leader at least – of how to find the US$70 billion (S$90.9 billion) the United Nations says is needed to reconstruct the territory destroyed by Israel’s two-year military campaign against Hamas.
But persuading the likes of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to hand over the funds is unlikely to be as easy as Mr Trump claimed.
While the deep-pocketed and energy-rich trio worked on and enthusiastically endorsed the peace plan, all three have specific reservations about unconditionally providing financing, according to several people with knowledge of the thinking of Gulf officials.
“In my experience, it’s easy to pledge funding, but realising it and putting up the money is something else,” said Dr Ibrahim Saif, a former Jordanian energy and planning minister who now works as a consultant in the country.
Egypt is hosting an international Gaza reconstruction conference in November and Gulf states will be among the lead participants, bringing the issue of reconstruction funding to the fore.
In the meantime, other post-war concerns, such as whether Israel will abide by the deal and Hamas disarms, are taking precedence among officials overseeing the early weeks of a sometimes fragile truce.
Saudi Arabia, which rallied Arab and Muslim states to push for a ceasefire and spearheaded efforts along with France to win more international recognition for Palestinian statehood, is constrained in terms of what it can commit financially to Gaza, said the people, who asked not to be identified to speak freely.
This is mainly a function of lower oil prices, which have fallen more than 10 per cent in 2025, leading the kingdom to cut back on several major projects associated with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic transformation plan. Plus, Saudi Arabia has ended a long tradition of grant-giving.
Riyadh is “allergic to writing blank cheques given decades of corruption and misuse by recipients across the Arab and Muslim world”, said Mr Ali Shihabi, a Saudi author and commentator close to the royal court.
Saudi Arabia is expected to lean on fellow Gulf states like Qatar and the UAE, and possibly Kuwait, which it sees as having more liquidity, to provide the lion’s share of Gaza funding, said three people briefed on the Saudi leadership’s current deliberations.
But the UAE is hesitant to allocate significant funds to Gaza before it sees “political clarity on where this is going”, operational and security arrangements on the ground, and “a longer-term view” towards the establishment of a Palestinian state, Dr Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said at an event last week.
Abu Dhabi wants to first see the full disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from any future governance role in Gaza, as well as a complete overhaul of the Palestinian Authority, according to a senior UAE official.
Qatar, which has hosted Hamas officials in Doha for more than a decade and been a key mediator in Gaza peace negotiations, is focused on making sure Israel will implement its part of the peace deal before it puts any money into rebuilding the territory, according to people with knowledge of Doha’s thinking.
Qatar and other Arab states accept the exclusion of Hamas from the temporary leadership of Gaza as stated in Mr Trump’s plan, which they all supported.
Still, some officials from the region argue it is impossible to fully exclude Hamas from Palestinian political life and a more realistic option is to consider what role a reformed entity might have in the future, according to a senior Arab official involved in the crafting of Mr Trump’s plan.
The Saudi, Qatari and UAE governments did not respond to requests for comment for the article.
Hamas’ involvement on any level is a red line for Israel and the US, and there is no sign of them changing their stance given the brutality of the group’s attack on Israel
The militant group, designated a terrorist organisation by the US and many others, still controls almost half of Gaza.
US Vice-President J.D. Vance and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner discussed a plan last week to divide the territory into two zones, with reconstruction only starting on the Israeli-controlled side. That proposal is in the early stages of development and may not come to fruition.
Influence and a say
Mr Trump will probably look to Qatar to provide a significant portion of Gaza reconstruction funding, according to Mr Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa practice at Eurasia Group.
The US leader gave Doha a security guarantee earlier in October, strengthening ties between the two countries, but Qatar would still require trade-offs.
“Qatar wants influence and a say in Gaza whether through a semi-disarmed Hamas, a completely disarmed political Hamas or something else,” Mr Maksad said. “That’s going to be problematic for Israel.”
Gulf states “all agree they won’t put money into Gaza unless they are first sure this won’t happen again,” said Dr Yasmine Farouk, Gulf and Arabian Peninsula project director at the International Crisis Group, referring to both the Oct 7 Hamas attack and subsequent conflict.
This “entails getting guarantees” from Hamas that it will not attack Israel, and from Israel that it will not resume the war, she said.
Egypt, which sees neighbouring Gaza as within its natural sphere of influence, is eager for its private-sector firms to play a lead role in the internationally funded reconstruction and development, including the gas and energy sectors, said Dr Saif, the former Jordanian minister turned consultant.
Dr Saif said he understood the reluctance among Gulf states to discuss reconstruction given the real threat of hostilities between Israel and Hamas resuming, their experiences in Gaza, and unanswered questions regarding the scope of the rebuilding effort.
“Is it just rebuilding what was damaged or is there a comprehensive plan, where Gaza can have a port, proper electricity, water and sewage system?” he said. BLOOMBERG
