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Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/27/world/politics/trump-gulf-rebuild-gaza/
Trump's Push for Gulf States to Pay for Rebuilding Gaza Faces Hurdles
(Bloomberg) Sam Dagher - Persuading Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to hand over funds for Gaza's reconstruction is unlikely to be easy. All three have specific reservations about unconditionally providing financing. Saudi Arabia is constrained in terms of what it can commit financially to Gaza, due to lower oil prices which have fallen more than 10% this year. Plus, Saudi Arabia has ended a long tradition of grant-giving. Riyadh "is allergic to writing blank checks given decades of corruption and misuse by recipients across the Arab and Muslim world," said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi author and commentator close to the royal court. The UAE is hesitant to allocate significant funds to Gaza before it sees "political clarity on where this is going," as well as operational and security arrangements on the ground, Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said last week. Abu Dhabi wants to first see the full disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from any future governance role in Gaza, as well as a complete overhaul of the Palestinian Authority. Qatar, which has hosted Hamas officials in Doha for more than a decade, is focused on making sure Israel will implement its part of the peace deal before it puts any money into rebuilding the territory. Gulf states "all agree they won't put money into Gaza unless they are first sure this won't happen again,' said Yasmine Farouk, Gulf and Arabian Peninsula project director at the International Crisis Group. This "entails getting guarantees" from Hamas that it will not attack Israel, she said.