Officials discuss Gaza reconstruction at MEAD conference, current plans 'not progressing'

Four officials involved in determining Gaza’s future appeared together onstage at the MEAD conference in Washington on Tuesday.

Figures presented at the conference showed that 1.2 million Palestinians had been displaced from their homes and 370,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed, including 70,000 that were partially destroyed.

Officials said rebuilding Gaza should involve more than repairing damaged homes and infrastructure. The process should also include educational efforts to address the anger, hatred, radicalism and extremist ideology that have taken root among Gaza’s population.

Hamas, the US, Turkey, Egypt and Qatar have agreed on a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip that would include disarming Hamas. However, the initiative remains stalled amid widespread suspicion and a lack of trust among the parties.

Conference participants said clearly that Hamas members are liars and difficult to trust. This has made it challenging to rely on commitments made behind closed doors when the messages delivered publicly differ.

Despite this, and although all parties understand who started the war and abducted and murdered Israeli civilians during the October 7 massacre, the international community continues to hold Israel responsible.

Trump's plan 'not progressing'

The conference also revealed that the Board of Peace’s plan includes deploying 10,000 Palestinian police officers to the Gaza Strip. The officers would first undergo vetting as part of the US-mediated process.

For now, however, the ambitious plan is described as “not progressing.”

Participants also called on other countries to support the Gaza reconstruction plan and change their rhetoric and narratives. The aim is to enable Palestinians, through the Board of Peace, to move away from their current course.

They warned that without progress in the process led by the Board of Peace, both Palestinians and Israelis would face harmful alternatives, including a possible return to war.

With more than one million people displaced and hundreds of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, participants at a Washington conference discussed an ambitious plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip. However, the initiative, which includes disarming Hamas, remains stalled because of deep mistrust.

With more than one million people displaced and hundreds of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, participants at the MEAD conference in Washington discussed an ambitious plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip. However, the initiative, which includes disarming Hamas, remains stalled amid mistrust among the parties. Participants warned that without a solution, the war could resume.