Israel has bombed and bulldozed €150m of EU-funded buildings in Gaza and West Bank – but never paid back a cent

Israel has damaged at least €150m of European taxpayer-funded structures in Gaza and the West Bank, but not paid back one euro, amid concern its impunity will cause further destruction.

The European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis (€50.5m) and the Southern Gaza Seawater Desalination Plant in Deir al-Balah, plus its 18km pipeline (€30m), were the most expensive EU-funded structures hit by Israeli airstrikes since 7 October 2023, when the current war began.

The EU had also invested €15m in building the Gaza Central Desalination Plant in Khan Younis and a Gas for Gaza pipeline in 2021 and 2023, but these were left unfinished due to the war and it was not known if the construction sites had been bombed.

European taxpayers had funded an average of €10m a year in other Gaza infrastructure in the 2014 to 2020 period, according to figures from the EU foreign service and the UN, putting another €60m of items in harm’s way.

And individual member states added to the tally in bilateral schemes.

Belgium had been funding “a number of green infrastructure projects” and gas projects in Gaza before the war, worth millions of euros, its foreign ministry told EUobserver, without giving a precise figure.

Germany had a long-term programme for Gaza “water infrastructure, small-scale public infrastructure, small-scale energy and agricultural infrastructure … housing,” its foreign ministry said, without giving us a value.

Sweden had "had two major investments in Gaza, one linked to the Gaza City Industrial Park," its foreign ministry also said, while not giving numbers.

Finland and the Netherlands confirmed they had funded Gaza facilities, without providing any details, while Poland had paid €300,000 for the Sisters of the Rosary School in Gaza, the Holy Family Parish church in Gaza City, and a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, its foreign ministry said.

And despite the reporting gaps, that added up to a probable Gaza-EU price tag well north of €155m.

Only Israel knew how much it has destroyed, as it was still not letting in foreign diplomats or press.

"Currently, there is no solid assessment available as for the potential damage to German-financed infrastructure projects in Gaza," Germany’s foreign ministry said.

Poland said: "We know at least some of these locations have suffered damage to varying degrees as a result of military operations”.

But Belgium’s projects had "faced significant losses" due to Israeli bombs, it said.

And it looked like Israel had destroyed 81 percent of all Gaza structures on satellite photos consulted by the UN on 31 October 2025.

Israel had caused $35.2bn (€30.6bn) in total physical damage to Gaza, which needed $9.9bn in "emergency" funding "for desalination, wastewater reconstruction, energy, generation, removal of and solid waste management, rebuilding primary roads and bridges”, also said the World Bank (WB) in April 2026.

But before reconstruction could begin, Gaza would first have to clear 47m tonnes of rubble, which was mixed with some 10,000 human bodies, who needed "dignified removal", and 20,000 tonnes of unexploded Israeli bombs, said the WB.