Donors Must Make Good on their Pledges for the Reconstruction of Gaza

Ramallah, 07 Rajab 1437/14 April 2016 (MINA) – Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged donor countries to “make good on their pledges”, which they made at the 2014 Cairo Conference on the construction of Gaza, after the last Israeli aggression on the Strip.

Hamdallah Wednesday presided over a Donors’ Meeting on Gaza Reconstruction in order to shed light on the progress made to date in the reconstruction efforts, and discuss the challenges facing the Palestinian Government due to Israeli obstacles and lack of sufficient funding. Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) reported, quoting WAFA.

“Almost two years have passed since the end of the Israeli War on Gaza, and a large number of Palestinian families still suffer the consequences, ” said the premier.

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Meanwhile, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, appealed to the international community to close the financial gap.

“I hope that we’ll see more commitment to fulfill the pledges,” Mladenov said.

He added that the rebuilding of homes is very important, but not enough, “the people in Gaza also have to rebuild their lives.

“According to the World Bank, only 1.4 billion US-Dollars or 40 percent of the pledges have been disbursed.

“We were able to repair more than 100,000 damaged houses and compensate many families,” the Prime Minister said. “However, progress is moving slowly.”

Of the 11,000 completely destroyed homes due to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, only 5,800 have been rebuilt so far. “The international community has to do more than just condemn Israel for it continuous aggression,” Hamdallah said. “They have to force Israel to end its siege on Gaza.”

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Israel has put many obstacles to delay the reconstruction of Gaza, ranging from the banning of import of cement, to denying entry to experts assisting in the reconstruction efforts.

In July 2014, Israel carried out a 51 bloody aggression against the strip. Over 2,160 Palestinians were killed and some 11,000 were injured.

Gaza still suffers from the repercussions of the Israeli aggression which took place in the summer of 2014; the infrastructure along with thousands of homes were completely destroyed, displacing thousands of families who up until the moment live in caravans on the rubble of their homes. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)