UN, ARAB LEAGUE URGE DONORS TO HONOR COMMITMENTS ON GAZA

News York, 17 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/7 February 2015 (MINA) – The United Nations and the Arab League have appealed the international donors to “urgently” disburse their financial commitments to Gaza.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon and head of Arab League Nabil el-Arabi on Friday issued a joint statement, in which they regretted the scarce financial resources for rebuilding the war-torn Gaza.

The statement said that the UN and Arab League leaders “urgently appeal to donors to honor and disburse as soon as possible their financial commitments made at the October 2014 Cairo Conference,” , Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Saturday.

During the meeting in Cairo, the international donors pledging around USD 5.4 billion to the reconstruction of Gaza and improving the situation in the enclave after it was hit by Israel’s devastating assault last summer.

UN agencies have said that nothing of the promised money has yet arrived in Gaza.

A part of the money will be earmarked to the subsidiary agencies of the UN that are active on the issue of Gaza and are tasked with preventing the situation from further deterioration.

The statement also regretted the slow pace of construction in Gaza and the stressed the urgent need for aid to ensure stability of the people residing in Gaza.

Lack of financial resources made the UN suspend its program for housing thousands of people in Gaza in January.

Qatar has promised the largest sum of money, around one billion dollars, while the United States and the European Union have pledged to pay $212 million and €450 million, respectively.

Israel’s military assault on Gaza brought about huge destruction to the besieged enclave.

More than 2,000 Palestinians were killed and thousands more injured in the one-sided war which started in early July 2014 and lasted for seven weeks.

More than 30 percent of Gaza population was also displaced in the wake of the conflict. (T/P002/P2).

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)