GAZA STRIP — The Board of Peace, the body founded by United States President Donald Trump in January to oversee the administration and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, is facing a cash shortfall in its $70 billion reconstruction plan. The board reported a gap between its financial commitments and actual disbursements and warned of an urgent liquidity crisis.

The board's governing structure has three tiers and includes Marc Rowan, Steve Witkoff, Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner. Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian foreign minister and defense minister, was named director general in January. The board's charter allows countries to secure a permanent seat for a $1 billion contribution, bypassing the standard three-year term.

"Out of the $17 billion pledged, the actual liquidity that has reached the ground is zero," said Moath al-Amoudi, an expert in international aid to Palestinians. "Donors are terrified of engaging with a board that carries no political vision and treats Gaza merely as an American security protectorate," he said.

The US plan for Gaza demands the full disarmament of Hamas and all allied Palestinian factions before reconstruction funds are provided and border crossings are opened. Reconstruction is to start in the third and final phase of the truce. The plan promises to rebuild Gaza from scratch with residential towers, data centres, seaside resorts, parks, sports facilities, and an airport. Eighty-five percent of Gaza's buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed.

Since the US-brokered ceasefire, no temporary homes have been brought into Gaza for the displaced. Only 30 percent of basic emergency relief needs such as clean water, medicine, and pest control have been fulfilled.

Past international reconstruction efforts have produced mixed disbursement records. After the 1993 Oslo Accord, the international community fulfilled 70 percent of its aid commitments, with the European Union fulfilling over 95 percent of its pledges and the United States ranking third in aid disbursements among major donors. After the 2014 war on Gaza, only 46 percent of the $2.7 billion pledged at a Cairo conference was disbursed after three years.