The European Commission signed the first flagship early recovery projects under the EU-led Team Gaza Initiative on the margins of the UN General Assembly High-Level Week in New York. The projects, together worth €43 million, will help restore essential water and solid waste management services for people in Gaza. The signing was carried out by Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica.
An EU Commissioner delivered opening remarks at a high-level ministerial policy dialogue in New York, setting out the EU's development investment approach amid multiple crises. The speech noted that Lebanon is advancing reforms while over one million people are displaced, Syria is trying to recover from more than a decade of civil war, and Gaza remains in limbo, with populations needing essential services such as schools, sanitation, housing, food and water. The EU aims to combine humanitarian support with early recovery and longer-term development, and announced an additional EUR 505 million adopted this summer for Lebanon's reforms, recovery and stability, on top of a previous EUR 500 mil…
At a high-level briefing during the UN General Assembly, the European Commission said the EU is committed to implementing the Gaza Peace Plan under UN Security Council Resolution 2803. Through the Team Gaza Initiative with 16 international partners, the EU has gathered around $1 billion for early recovery in Gaza and signed its first two projects: a solid waste management project with UNDP and a water and sanitation project with UNICEF, totaling $50 million. The EU stressed the need to coordinate with Israel to ensure greater access to the Strip for projects, humanitarian aid, and the international Stabilisation Force.
The European Commission signed two flagship Gaza early recovery contracts in New York. The "Gaza Water and Wastewater Early Recovery" project with UNICEF will provide improved water and sanitation for approximately 1 million people in Gaza, while the project with UNDP focuses on waste collection, waste transfer and a recycling pilot. The Commissioner said these are a first step under the Team Gaza Initiative, which raised almost 1 billion dollars for the people of Gaza at the Palestine Donor Group meeting last July. The projects are aligned with the Board of Peace, NCAG and the Palestinian Authority, with clear commitments from Israel to facilitate them.