New Israel Fund Australia welcomes government funding for Palestinian reconstruction
21/7/2026 – Sydney
NIF Australia welcomes Minister Wong’s announcement of new Australian funding for Palestinian recovery.
The recovery package is an important and welcome first step towards a long lasting peace. Rebuilding water, health, education and housing, alongside credible and effective Palestinian governance, is foundational to ensuring peace, equality and self-determination for all Palestinians and Israelis.
During their recent meetings in Canberra, our visiting Palestinian and Israeli policy experts, Hiba Qasas and Dr Gil Murciano, advocated for this exact type of investment. Their central message was that the choice of who supports Gaza reconstruction will shape the future of the region and determine a recovery that strengthens accountable governance and a credible political horizon. We welcome Australia’s commitment to this work.
Reconstruction rebuilds infrastructure. Peacebuilding tackles the root causes of conflicts. Both are essential, and one cannot substitute for the other.
Reconstruction at the scale Gaza now depends upon conditions that only a genuine peace process can create: functional, accountable Palestinian governance with real control on the ground; a security framework, trusted by all parties; the withdrawal of Israeli forces as required by the Gaza Peace Plan; and the ability to bring in the vast quantities of steel, concrete and other materials that rebuilding demands, which under current Israeli ‘Dual Use’ rules, are tightly restricted.
A change in Israeli policy and attitudes, alongside accountable Palestinian leadership and governance is a precondition for meaningful reconstruction. Without it, even the most generous investment risks being poured into foundations that cannot hold.
Australia has already shown leadership by helping to establish the International Peace Fund for Israel and Palestine alongside the UK and Canada. We now urge the Government to operationalise its commitment and provide more substantial funding, to ensure long-term stability in the region through strategic investment in locally-led peacebuilding initiatives.
"We warmly welcome this package. Humanitarian support and strong, accountable Palestinian institutions are essential to peace, and Australia is right to invest in them," said Kate Rosenberg, Executive Director of the New Israel Fund Australia.
"We also have to be honest about what stands in the way. Reconstruction cannot succeed while the current Israeli government restricts the very materials Gaza needs to rebuild and resists a credible political horizon. A change in Israeli policy and Palestinian leadership are as essential to recovery as any funding package. This is why Australia's approach matters: in helping to establish the International Peace Fund alongside the UK and Canada, it has chosen to back the Israelis and Palestinians working, against the odds, to build the shared future their governments have not yet delivered. We call for a stronger financial and operational commitment to the Fund and its work. Peacebuilders are needed now more than ever."
