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The Trump administration’s plan to rebuild Gaza has reportedly been scaled back from a territory-wide reconstruction programme to a limited pilot project near Rafah, according to The Guardian.

The report said the revised proposal, led by the US-backed Board of Peace (BoP), now focuses on establishing a temporary settlement for a small number of displaced Palestinians instead of restoring infrastructure across the entire Gaza Strip.

The pilot project would comprise portable housing, a Palestinian civilian administration, a locally trained police force and an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) tasked with maintaining security. Officials familiar with the planning told The Guardian that the initiative is unlikely to become operational before the end of 2026.

Preparatory work has begun, with a small contingent of Moroccan and Kosovan officers arriving in Israel to form the first members of the proposed ISF. A logistics facility at the Kerem Shalom crossing is also nearing completion to support the multinational force.

However, construction of the settlement near Rafah has yet to begin. Satellite imagery reviewed by the newspaper reportedly shows no permanent structures at the proposed site, with significant progress considered unlikely before Israel’s parliamentary elections on October 27.

Reconstruction remains stalled

According to The Guardian, reconstruction efforts have remained largely frozen as military operations and restrictions on humanitarian supplies continue despite the ceasefire announced last October.

Western diplomats quoted by the newspaper said prospects for rebuilding Gaza may depend on political developments following Israel’s elections.

One diplomat said preserving even a scaled-down recovery initiative was intended to prevent more hardline proposals from replacing the current plan.

“The aim is just to keep something going, keep the ball in play, because if you stop there are others with a more extreme agenda just waiting to jump in and take over,” the diplomat told The Guardian.

The report added that officials fear renewed large-scale fighting before the elections could derail the project altogether.

Security and funding hurdles

Under the proposal, security within the pilot area would be handled by the ISF alongside a specially trained Palestinian police force. Training for the Palestinian personnel has not yet begun, while negotiations over the legal framework for deploying the multinational force remain ongoing.

The report said the ISF is expected to comprise around 5,000 personnel from Morocco, Kosovo and potentially Albania and Kazakhstan, although Israeli approval for the force and the Palestinian police unit has yet to be granted.

Funding also remains uncertain. The Guardian reported that only a fraction of the money pledged for the broader Gaza recovery programme has materialised.

The Board of Peace is also exploring whether Palestinian tax revenues and frozen financial assets withheld by Israel could be used to support the project.

The proposal has drawn criticism from the Palestinian Authority, which maintains that the funds belong to the Palestinian people and should be released without conditions.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian also warned that temporary recovery measures must not become a substitute for a comprehensive political solution.

According to The Guardian, members of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza have also expressed concerns that concentrating humanitarian assistance in a single pilot zone could leave much of Gaza’s displaced population without equal access to aid.

What is the Board of Peace?

The Board of Peace (BoP) is a US-backed body proposed by US President Donald Trump in September 2025 and formally launched in January 2026 to oversee Gaza’s proposed post-war governance, reconstruction and security. The body comprises 27 member countries and is chaired by Trump, while former UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov serves as its High Representative, leading the implementation of the Board’s plans for Gaza.