The $1 billion program falls critically short of the $71 billion that is reportedly needed to rebuild Gaza over the next 10 years.<\/b><\/p>\n
Written by: AFP and Reuters<\/i><\/p>\n
The European Commission has announced a $1 billion aid and reconstruction fund aimed at helping Gaza recover after more than two years of devastating war.<\/p>\n
The \u201eTeam Gaza Initiative\u201d was launched on Monday at a donors\u2019 meeting in Brussels. The program supports projects such as restoring water and sewage networks, clearing debris and rebuilding health infrastructure, the European Commission said in a statement.<\/p>\n
But the size of the fund falls critically short of the tens of billions estimated to be needed to rebuild the Palestinian enclave amid Israel's genocidal war, which continues to kill Palestinians and create dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n
The statement said Spain, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, as well as the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, are participating in the initiative, alongside the Commission. Australia and Canada are also expected to join.<\/p>\n
\u201eToday we are presenting an initial package of almost \u20ac900 million, or $1 billion,\u201d said Dubravka Suica, EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, ahead of the pledging meeting. \u201eOur goal is clear: to build hope, resilience and a better future for the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The funding is intended to help provide basic water and sanitation services to the population, clear debris and trash, and restore health, energy, agriculture, and food systems.<\/p>\n
No details were given on how much each partner would contribute. Suica said the donors \u201ewant to start with what is called early recovery, and it is very important to show that we are willing to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201eWe now need conditions on the ground that allow aid to reach the people of Gaza,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Although Israel and Hamas agreed to a US-brokered \u201eceasefire\u201d last October, Israel has consistently violated it.<\/p>\n
The intensity of the fighting has decreased, but since the beginning of the \u201eceasefire,\u201d at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded. Overall, the war has killed at least 73,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n
The EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, called the situation in Gaza \u201eunbearable.\u201d She called for humanitarian access to the enclave and greater political commitment from the Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201eNine months after the so-called ceasefire, artillery attacks continue, diseases spread, people die,\u201d Lahbib told reporters before announcing the $1 billion fund.<\/p>\n
The European Union and the United Nations said in April that more than $71 billion would be needed over the next 10 years to restore and rebuild Gaza.<\/p>\n
The Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) report found that $26.3 billion will be needed in the first 18 months to restore basic services, rebuild critical infrastructure, and support Gaza's economic recovery.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Az 1 milli\u00e1rd doll\u00e1ros program kritikusan alulm\u00falja azt a 71 milli\u00e1rd doll\u00e1rt, amelyre a jelent\u00e9sek szerint G\u00e1za helyre\u00e1ll\u00edt\u00e1s\u00e1hoz lenne sz\u00fcks\u00e9g a k\u00f6vetkez\u0151 10 \u00e9vben. \u00cdrta: AFP \u00e9s Reuters Az Eur\u00f3pai Bizotts\u00e1g bejelentett egy egymilli\u00e1rd doll\u00e1ros seg\u00e9ly- \u00e9s \u00fajj\u00e1\u00e9p\u00edt\u00e9si alapot, amelynek c\u00e9lja, hogy seg\u00edtse G\u00e1za talpra \u00e1ll\u00e1s\u00e1t a t\u00f6bb mint k\u00e9t \u00e9ve tart\u00f3 puszt\u00edt\u00f3 h\u00e1bor\u00fa ut\u00e1n. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics"],"modified_by":"Antipropaganda H\u00edrblog","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}