By Mohamed Khubaisa
RAMALLAH
An official of the Palestinian unity government on Tuesday denied reports that the government had received funds to being rebuilding the shattered Gaza Strip before a donors' conference in Cairo – slated for next month – had even been held.
"Neither the government nor the Palestinian Authority (PA) has received any funds to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinians [in Gaza], which includes housing, food and medicine," the official, insisting on anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.
"This is especially true for the more than 100,000 displaced residents of the Gaza Strip," he added.
On Monday, Moussa Abu Marzouq, a leading member of Palestinian resistance group Hamas, said the PA had received sufficient funds to begin reconstruction of the Gaza Strip ahead of next month's donors' conference in Cairo.
"If this were true, why would the Palestinian government organize a donors' conference?" the official asked. "We have already sent invitations [to the conference] to more than 80 countries, along with businessmen and investors."
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday that Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had received a total of $676 million in immediate assistance this year.
Hamas' Abu Marzouq, for his part, said the PA and the Palestinian government had already received sufficient funds to take steps towards the reconstruction of Gaza without having to wait for October's donors' conference.
He expressed serious reservations about delaying the reconstruction process, saying such "procrastination" on the part of the PA and government was "unjustified."
Abu Marzouq went on to say that the Palestinian government should begin reconstruction of the devastated coastal territory.
He called on the government to treat the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank equally, especially on the economic level, asserting that the Gaza Strip was generally subject to "great injustice" in terms of government spending.
Devastated by Israel's recent 51-day military onslaught in which more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, the Gaza Strip needs some $7.5 billion to be rebuilt, according to recent statements by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
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