At Least $53 Billion Needed to Rebuild Gaza, UN Estimates

 This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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At Least $53 Billion Needed to Rebuild Gaza, UN Estimates

 This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

More than $53 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and end the "humanitarian catastrophe" that has gripped the war-ravaged territory, including $20 billion in the first three years, according to a United Nations estimate released Tuesday.

"While it has not been possible in the current environment to fully assess the totality of needs that will be required in Gaza, the interim assessment offers an early indication of the enormous scale of recovery and reconstruction needs in the Gaza Strip," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report.

The Gaza war has been paused since mid-January under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last 16 months, the Gaza health ministry says, and nearly all of Gaza's population has been internally displaced by the conflict, which has caused a hunger crisis.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities and about 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages, Israeli tallies show.



US State Department Approves $30 Million in Funding for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

 Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
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US State Department Approves $30 Million in Funding for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

 Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)

The US State Department has approved $30 million in funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the State Department said on Thursday, calling on other countries to also support the controversial group delivering aid in war-torn Gaza.

"This support is simply the latest iteration of President Trump's and Secretary Rubio's pursuit of peace in the region," State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters at a regular news briefing.

Reuters was first to report the move earlier this week.

Washington has long backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation diplomatically, but this is the first known US government financial contribution to the organization, which uses private for-profit US military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution at so-called secure sites.

Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the UN and GHF operations.

Earlier this month, GHF halted aid deliveries for a day as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety near its distribution sites after dozens of Palestinians seeking aid were killed. It says there have been no incidents at its sites.

The foundation’s executive director, Johnnie Moore, an evangelical preacher who was a White House adviser in the first Trump administration, said in a post on X on Thursday that the group has delivered more than 46 million meals to Gazans since it began its operations in May.

Some US officials opposed giving any US funds to the foundation over concerns about violence near aid distribution sites, the GHF's inexperience and the involvement of the for-profit US logistics and private military firms, four sources told Reuters earlier this week.

The United States could approve additional monthly grants of $30 million for the GHF, two sources said, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

In approving the US funding for the GHF, the sources said the State Department exempted the foundation, which has not publicly disclosed its finances, from an audit usually required for groups receiving USAID grants for the first time.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.