The European Commission and thirteen partner governments launched a €883.6 million ($1 billion) aid platform on Monday to fund early recovery projects in the Gaza Strip. The Team Gaza Initiative, unveiled during a meeting of the Palestine Donor Group in Brussels, will channel financing into water and sanitation infrastructure, debris removal, and the restoration of health, energy, and agricultural systems. Participating states include Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, and the United Kingdom, alongside the European Investment Bank and the World Bank; Australia and Canada have signalled their intention to join.

European officials framed the initiative as a coordinated effort to avoid duplication among donors and to concentrate resources on the most urgent civilian needs. “The EU remains the most reliable and credible partner for the Palestinian people,” High Representative Kaja Kallas stated, adding that the Palestinian Authority must continue reforms and strengthen its governing capacity. Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica noted that donors are ready to begin early recovery but stressed that “we need disarmament of Hamas in order to start proper recovery.” The funding package includes €41.7 million in direct support to the Palestinian Authority through the long-standing Pegase mechanism.

The announcement coincides with a significant political shift inside Gaza. On 6 July, Hamas announced the dissolution of the administrative committee that had governed the enclave since 2007, a move the group’s media office described as a step to “alleviate the suffering resulting from the ongoing war” and to remove pretexts for Israeli interference. Days later, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree scheduling legislative elections for 28 November, the first such vote since 2006. The transition is being overseen by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a body linked to the US-convened Board of Peace, whose representatives attended the Brussels meeting.

Viewed from European capitals, the initiative reinforces the EU’s role as the largest international donor to the Palestinians and its backing for a two-state solution. Analysts in Washington note that the Board of Peace’s presence signals an attempt to align American and European reconstruction efforts, even as the second phase of the October 2025 ceasefire—which was to include Hamas’s disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal—remains stalled. Israeli forces continue to patrol a buffer zone covering nearly 70 percent of the territory, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel will not withdraw. The UN estimates that full reconstruction will require $71.4 billion over a decade, with $26.3 billion needed in the first eighteen months to restore essential services. The European Commission confirmed that Šuica recently secured Israeli agreement on next steps for two major waste and water projects, though no timeline for broader implementation was provided.