Gaza Reconstruction Plan Faces Stalemate Amid Deep Mistrust at MEAD Conference

Four officials involved in shaping Gaza’s future appeared together at the MEAD conference in Washington on Tuesday, discussing plans for the territory’s reconstruction and future governance.

Figures presented at the conference indicated that approximately 1.2 million Palestinians had been displaced from their homes, while about 370,000 homes had suffered damage or destruction. Of those, roughly 70,000 were described as partially damaged.

Officials emphasized that rebuilding Gaza should extend beyond restoring homes and infrastructure. They said reconstruction should also include educational initiatives aimed at confronting anger, hatred, radicalism and extremist ideology that have become entrenched within parts of Gaza’s population.

The United States, Turkey, Egypt and Qatar have reached an agreement on a framework for rebuilding the Gaza Strip that includes the disarmament of Hamas. However, the initiative remains stalled, with significant suspicion and distrust continuing among the parties involved.

Conference participants openly expressed concerns about Hamas’s credibility, saying its members are liars and difficult to trust. According to participants, this has complicated efforts to depend on private commitments when statements made publicly appear to differ from what is communicated behind closed doors.

Despite these concerns, participants noted that the parties understand who initiated the war and who abducted and killed Israeli civilians during the October 7 massacre. Nevertheless, they said the international community continues to place responsibility on Israel.

Trump’s plan described as “not progressing”

The conference also disclosed additional details about the Board of Peace’s proposed arrangements, including plans to deploy 10,000 Palestinian police officers throughout the Gaza Strip. The officers would first be subjected to a vetting process overseen through a US-mediated framework.

At present, however, the ambitious initiative is described as “not progressing.”

Participants urged additional countries to back the reconstruction initiative while also changing their rhetoric and narratives surrounding the conflict. The objective is for Palestinians, through the Board of Peace, to move away from their current trajectory.

They warned that if the Board of Peace-led process fails to advance, both Palestinians and Israelis could face damaging alternatives, including the possibility that fighting will resume.

With more than one million Palestinians displaced and hundreds of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, officials gathered in Washington to discuss an extensive proposal for rebuilding the Gaza Strip. Yet the plan, which includes disarming Hamas, remains at a standstill because of deep mistrust between the parties.

The MEAD conference highlighted the scale of the reconstruction challenge while underscoring the political obstacles facing the initiative. Participants warned that without an agreement capable of moving the process forward, the absence of progress could ultimately leave both sides facing renewed conflict.