The European Commission and 13 partner governments launched the “Team Gaza Initiative” on Monday, committing €883.6 million to early recovery projects in the Gaza Strip. The announcement, made at the second meeting of the Palestine Donor Group in Brussels, brings together the Commission, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank, and states including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan and the United Kingdom. The funds are earmarked for restoring water and sanitation infrastructure, removing debris, and re-establishing health, energy and agricultural systems. An additional €41.7 million was pledged through the PEGASE mechanism to support the Palestinian Authority’s budget.

European officials framed the initiative as a coordinated effort to avoid duplication among donors and to channel aid toward the most urgent civilian needs. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, described the bloc as “the most reliable and credible partner for the Palestinian people” and stressed that the Palestinian Authority must continue its reform agenda. Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica noted that the European Commission had reached agreement with Israeli authorities on two initial projects in waste and water management. However, Šuica also stated that “the disarmament of Hamas” is required “in order to start proper recovery,” a condition echoed by several European capitals.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, who co-chaired the meeting, highlighted that the Authority had exceeded reform targets across 53 milestones in fiscal governance, public services and digitalisation. He insisted that genuine recovery cannot begin without a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories and the reopening of all border crossings. Viewed from Jerusalem, the Israeli government has maintained that its forces will not leave Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the nearly 70 percent of the territory under Israeli control as a buffer zone against Hamas attacks. The meeting took place days after Hamas announced the dissolution of its administrative committee in Gaza and President Mahmoud Abbas called legislative elections for 28 November, the first such vote since 2006.

The initiative represents a down payment on a reconstruction effort the United Nations, World Bank and EU estimate will require over $70 billion across a decade. The rapid damage assessment published in April 2026 underpins the project selection, but the gap between early recovery and full rebuilding remains vast. The US-backed Board of Peace, represented at the Brussels meeting by High Representative Nikolay Mladenov, is expected to coordinate with the Team Gaza platform on governance and security arrangements. For now, the donor group has established a mechanism to disburse funds as conditions allow, with Australia, Canada and Ireland signalling their intention to join. The next concrete step is the planned legislative election in November, which Palestinian officials present as a milestone in unifying governance across Gaza and the West Bank.