Trump’s peace commission faces cash shortage

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Donald Trump’s peace council has received only a fraction of the $17 billion pledged for Gaza, sources told Reuters, leaving the US president unable to move forward with his plans for the future of the shattered Palestinian enclave. Ten days before U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran plunged the region into war, Trump hosted a meeting in Washington where Gulf Arab states pledged billions of dollars for Gaza’s governance and reconstruction. One of the sources with direct knowledge of the peace committee’s operations said that of the ten countries that had pledged funds, only three – the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and the United States itself – had provided funds. Funding so far is less than $1 billion, sources said, without giving further details. Sources said the Iran war “affected everything” and exacerbated previous financing difficulties. The plan envisions a massive reconstruction of the coastal enclave after the Palestinian militant group Hamas disarms. The peace committee denied it had funding problems in a statement posted on social media on Friday.(This is a Reuters report)