Palestinians praying under a mosque in Gaza destroyed in the 51-day Israeli summer offensive. Photo: Anadolu
by Tom Porter, IBTimes
Only about 5% of the international aid pledged to help rebuild Gaza after the conflict with Israel last year has actually been received, according to a Palestinian government source.
The source in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa told humanitarian news service IRIN that while governments worldwide had pledged to contribute $5.4bn (£3.49bn, €4.74bn) to relief efforts, only about $300m had actually been received, reports Al Jazeera.
Gaza was heavily bombed by Israel during the month long war with Hamas in July last year, with nearly 100,000 homes destroyed and about 2,200 people, most of them Palestinian civilians, killed, according to UN figures.
In a conference in Cairo following the conflict, countries around the world pledged billions towards reconstruction costs and aid.
Among the largest pledges were those from Qatar, which offered $1bn, while Saudi Arabia and the US pledged $500m and $212m respectively.
In January, Egypt and Norway urged countries to honour their pledges.
“No one has said to us that they’re not committed to what they have pledged, but also due to the oil price and other issues in the Gulf, there has been a bit of a lingering,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende told a news conference, reports Reuters.
In late January, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency announced that it had suspended all reconstruction work in Gaza after running out of money, and that tens of thousands of Gazans were living in rubble.
“People are literally sleeping amongst the rubble, children have died of hypothermia,” Robert Turner, the agency’s director for Gaza said.
