As reported by journalist Khaled Abu Toameh of the Gatestone Institute, US President Donald J. Trump and members of his Board of Peace have pledged billions of dollars for “relief and reconstruction” in the Gaza Strip following the war that began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. According to Abu Toameh, this funding push comes as recent Palestinian opinion polls highlight deep public concern about widespread corruption within Palestinian institutions, including those expected to partner in Gaza’s future administration.
According to the Coalition for Integrity and Accountability, a Palestinian civil society group focused on combating corruption, 57% of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expect the level of corruption to remain the same or increase after the current war. The same polling found that 90% of Palestinians view existing anti‑corruption efforts by both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas as insufficient, citing weak transparency, a lack of political will to hold officials accountable, and ineffective penalties.
Abu Toameh reports that these findings are consistent with surveys by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which for years have shown that more than 80% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza believe there is corruption within PA institutions. This backdrop is significant because, as he notes, the PA is expected to play a major role in managing Gaza under post‑war arrangements associated with Trump’s Gaza plan and the new Board of Peace structure.
What questions are being raised about corruption and oversight?
According to the Gatestone Institute article, many Palestinians believe that under PA President Mahmoud Abbas, corruption has deepened, with practices such as wasta (nepotism), misuse of public funds, and enrichment of a small political elite while much of the population faces economic hardship. Abu Toameh notes that frustration with perceived PA corruption was a key factor behind Hamas’s victory in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, when Hamas campaigned on promises of “clean governance” and reform.
Abu Toameh reports that, over the past three decades, the international community has failed to rigorously track how aid money to Palestinian entities has been used, enabling large‑scale corruption and diversion of funds. He writes that tens of billions of dollars in aid to the PA and Hamas-led authorities in Gaza have been lost to corruption, siphoned off by armed groups, or mismanaged by political leaders.
The article further cites reports that since October 2023, Hamas has generated an estimated 500 million dollars by seizing humanitarian aid trucks and reselling their contents to Gaza residents at inflated prices. Abu Toameh argues that corruption, mismanagement, and diversion of aid have repeatedly undermined reconstruction efforts, preventing assistance from reaching ordinary Palestinians and instead reinforcing armed groups’ military capabilities.
Supporting details and expert concerns
According to Abu Toameh, the Board of Peace framework now intersects with this governance landscape through new PA-linked bodies. He reports that Nickolay Mladenov, identified as High Representative for the Board of Peace, recently announced that the PA has established a “Liaison Office” to coordinate with the board on its activities in Gaza.
The article states that a newly formed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, presented as an independent technocratic body, is in practice dominated by figures affiliated with the PA and its ruling Fatah movement. Abu Toameh notes that this concentration of PA-linked officials raises concerns among Palestinians who already associate the PA with entrenched corruption and weak accountability mechanisms.
Abu Toameh writes that Gaza has long been among the world’s most heavily funded territories per capita in terms of international aid, yet remains impoverished, unstable, and controlled by Hamas and other armed groups. According to his reporting, international assistance has often empowered governance systems that prioritize military buildup over civilian reconstruction, with cement and construction materials originally intended for housing diverted into tunnels and other military infrastructure.
He adds that resources donors believed were financing hospitals, schools, and basic services were in many cases redirected to weapons, military facilities, and preparations for future confrontations with Israel. In his assessment, substantial portions of donor funding have been absorbed by corruption, political patronage networks, and the militarization of Palestinian society rather than long‑term economic development.
What are the implications for Gaza aid and Trump’s Board of Peace?
Abu Toameh argues that the Gaza Strip has become a territory where an armed group can repeatedly wage war while relying on the international community both to fund the conflict cycle and to pay for rebuilding afterward. In this context, he writes that donors participating in Trump’s Board of Peace face a central question: how to ensure that new billions pledged for Gaza relief and reconstruction are not diverted, wasted, or used to rearm militant organizations.
According to the article, the people of Gaza urgently require humanitarian assistance, housing, infrastructure repair, and economic opportunities. However, Abu Toameh contends that additional funding alone, without structural safeguards, will be insufficient to improve their situation and may instead repeat past patterns of aid capture by political and armed actors.
He reports that any serious reconstruction effort envisioned under the Board of Peace should begin with strict conditions, including comprehensive tracking and transparency over how funds are used, robust monitoring of construction materials, and a clear requirement that Hamas and other armed groups disarm and withdraw from the political and security landscape. Abu Toameh concludes that earlier assumptions—that large financial commitments by themselves would produce different outcomes in Gaza—have been undermined by the historical record of aid diversion and persistent corruption.
In summary, as Trump’s Board of Peace and international donors move to mobilize large-scale reconstruction financing for Gaza, Abu Toameh’s reporting highlights longstanding corruption concerns, public mistrust of governing authorities, and repeated instances of aid diversion, all of which pose significant challenges to ensuring that new funds reach civilians and support sustainable recovery.
