The European Commission, joined by over a dozen countries and major financial institutions, unveiled a coordinated aid package on Monday aimed at helping Gaza recover from wartime damage. Branded the "Team Gaza Initiative," the program will mobilize €883.6 million, the Commission said, to finance a range of reconstruction projects across the coastal territory.
Announced at a donor meeting in Brussels, the initiative is directed at rebuilding critical services and infrastructure. According to a statement from the Commission, funding under the program will be used to restore water and sanitation systems, remove debris from affected areas and rebuild health infrastructure.
Gaza remains extensively damaged more than two and a half years after the conflict began with the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas. A ceasefire has been in effect since last October. The United Nations places the bill for rebuilding the territory at roughly $70 billion, a figure far larger than the amount committed through this initiative.
Participants named by the Commission include Spain, Denmark, Britain, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium. The World Bank and the European Investment Bank are also involved alongside the Commission. Australia and Canada were reported as expected to join the effort.
The Commission did not provide a breakdown of how much each partner is contributing to the €883.6 million package. Details on individual country contributions were not released.
For sectors involved in reconstruction, the announced funding specifically targets utilities and sanitation, debris removal and health system rebuilding. The inclusion of multilateral lenders indicates a role for international development finance in channeling the funds, while national contributions reflect a coalition-based approach to project financing and implementation.
While the declared €883.6 million provides immediate project financing, the Commission and partner governments have not disclosed further specifics on allocation by project or timelines for disbursement. The scope and scale of Gaza's overall reconstruction needs, as estimated by the United Nations, remain substantially larger than the resources announced under the Team Gaza Initiative.