EU Pledges €900 Million in Development Aid for Gaza Reconstruction
The Gaza Strip will receive a donation of around €900 million from the European Union for reconstruction programmes. The commitment was made by all member states at a conference in Brussels on Monday.
The funds will be used to provide basic facilities, such as water sources and sanitation, which were destroyed during Israeli attacks. Currently, around half of Gaza’s two million residents are still living in displacement tents.
Hamas is categorised as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, which is why it is not part of the EU aid programme. The grant will also be used to restore the health and food systems in the Gaza Strip, which have been severely affected by the war with Israel.
The distribution of aid will be organised by the Gaza Initiative Team, which was simultaneously inaugurated at the Brussels conference. This team consists of 15 members, including 12 EU member states, plus the World Bank and Japan.
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, stated that reform within the Palestinian Authority is essential for the bloc to continue providing its support. According to data she cited, the EU has provided nearly €30 billion in aid to Palestine since 1994.
Palestinian representatives, as well as a representative from the Board of Peace established by US President Donald Trump, were also invited guests at the conference.
According to a UN report from May 2026, the recovery and reconstruction work required in the Gaza Strip is estimated to cost $71.4 billion. The report also stated that 371,888 homes were directly affected by the war, representing three-quarters of the total residential buildings in the territory, with 85 per cent of those affected homes completely destroyed.
More than 90 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s population, or around 1.9 million Palestinians, have been forcibly displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas, with some having to move multiple times. The war erupted after the Hamas-led terrorist attack on 7 October 2023, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis and resulted in 251 people being taken hostage.
More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, with women and children making up many of the victims. A UN report noted that around 450 people were killed during the ceasefire period up to mid-January 2026.
Almost 70 per cent of the Gaza Strip remains under the control of the Israeli military, while the rest is controlled by Hamas. So far, Hamas has refused to ‘lay down its arms’ as agreed in the ceasefire deal brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar in October 2025. The Board of Peace, a technocratic body led by Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, was established to manage civil affairs in the Gaza Strip.
In September 2025, the UN Commission of Inquiry declared that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Several leading human rights organisations in Israel and around the world also consider Israel’s military operations in Gaza to be a form of genocide. The International Court of Justice is currently considering a genocide case brought by South Africa in 2023. Israel has repeatedly denied the accusations.