Qatar’s prime minister delivered a blunt message to the international community Sunday: Doha will not bankroll the reconstruction of Gaza, shattering widespread assumptions that the gas-rich emirate would serve as the primary financier of postwar rebuilding.

“We are not the ones who are going to write the check to rebuild what others destroyed,” Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani said during an onstage interview at the Doha Forum.

Al Thani stressed that Qatar will continue providing humanitarian aid, not reconstruction funding, and only if it determines that other support for Palestinians is falling short. “Our payments will only go to help the Palestinian people if we see that the help coming to them is insufficient,” he said, offering no further details.

The declaration upends months of speculation, as Qatar had been viewed as the most likely funder willing to contribute without imposing the political conditions demanded by other wealthy Gulf states. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have made clear they will not invest in rebuilding Gaza without a credible pathway to a Palestinian state — a requirement Israel firmly rejects.

Qatar’s decision leaves a glaring question mark over who, if anyone, is willing to finance reconstruction of an enclave devastated by months of war. International officials have repeatedly warned that without substantial Gulf backing, the price tag — expected to reach tens of billions of dollars — may be impossible to meet.

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