UN, Arab League urge Gaza donors to expedite aid

The secretaries-general of the UN and the Arab League have appealed to the donor countries to expedite the financial aid they had pledged to the impoverished and war-torn Gaza Strip.

October last year, the donor countries pledged in a conference held in Cairo to give the Palestinians 5.4 billion dollars, half of which is to help rebuild Gaza in the aftermath of the Israeli devastating war.

Those funds include money for UN agencies in Gaza to help it finance its vital operations in the embattled enclave.

"They urgently appeal to donors to honor and disburse as soon as possible their financial commitments made at the October 2014 Cairo Conference," a joint statement issued by the offices of Ki-moon and Arabi stated.

"The pace of reconstruction in Gaza remains slow. It is crucial now to expand the scope of reconstruction efforts thus far to bring hope to the people of Gaza and ensure stability, based on international responsibility in reconstruction and lifting the siege," the statement underlined.

According to the statement, the temporary reconstruction mechanism pursued in Gaza has enabled to date 55,000 homeowners to get construction materials to repair their homes.

It added that this mechanism needs to be expanded to facilitate and accelerate the execution of major projects on a large scale.


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