The mystery surrounding the billions pledged to Donald Trump’s Board of Peace just got even murkier.
Despite world leaders announcing roughly $17 billion in donations, the official World Bank fund set up to receive those donations has exactly one thing in it: nothing.
According to a Financial Times report, the board received the donations, but they were never deposited into the World Bank account, which has a balance of “zero.”
“Zero dollars have been deposited,” one source familiar with the matter told the newspaper. So where did the money go?
Instead of flowing through the World Bank’s fund, which would come with established oversight and reporting requirements, the Board of Peace says donations have been diverted to a mysterious JPMorgan bank account.
“A number of options were established to receive funding,” a Board of Peace official told the Financial Times. “At this point, contributors have opted to use other options.”
Those “other options” come with far less transparency.
Unlike the World Bank, the JPMorgan account is not required to publicly report its financial position to donors or board members, leaving outside observers with little visibility into how much money has actually been received or where it’s currently sitting.
After the Financial Times story was published, the Board of Peace pushed back on social media, arguing that the World Bank account is merely one of several funding mechanisms and acknowledged that donations are being routed through different channels instead.
Even so, the board has offered no public accounting of the funds.
Officials say financial reports will eventually be shared with the board’s own executive committee—but only “at a time deemed appropriate.”
Meanwhile, projects the board was created to oversee remain largely frozen.
Morocco has reportedly contributed about $20 million, helping fund the office of the Board of Peace’s representative for postwar Gaza and salaries for a Palestinian technocratic committee intended to help govern the territory.
The United Arab Emirates pledged another $100 million to train a new police force in Gaza, but those funds remain frozen and the program has yet to begin.
The U.S. State Department has also committed to redirect roughly $1.2 billion in existing aid toward projects aligned with the board’s agenda.
But according to congressional aides, none of that money is actually being managed by the Board of Peace, and none of it has been spent.
The Trump’s State Department is also seeking to provide another $50 million directly to the board, according to the report.
In other words, billions have been pledged, but little appears to have reached the ground.
The Board of Peace says it has begun seeking bids for reconstruction and security contracts, but admits no contracts have been awarded because operations inside Gaza have not yet begun.
“A lot of it is because we’re not operating in Gaza yet,” a spokesperson told the Financial Times, pointing to the fact that Hamas has not been disarmed.
Trump originally promoted the Board of Peace as the centerpiece of his plan to reshape postwar Gaza, with goals that included disarming Hamas, withdrawing Israeli forces, and rebuilding the territory.
Still, the central question remains unanswered.
If the official World Bank account is empty, billions have been received, and virtually no reconstruction work has begun, where exactly is the money?
