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Donors from all over the world will meet in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to pledge funds and reconstruct Gaza after a more permanent ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israelis is reached. The funds will be raised under the patronage of Norway and Egypt and will be released to Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority,Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende said on Monday. Norway heads the international coordination committee for aid for Palestine.
Norway noted that this is the third time the recent past that international donors will look to finance the reconstruction of Gaza
“We cannot expect the international community to finance reconstruction once again” without prior conditions, Brende said. He particularly called out for an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza and security guarantees for civilians in both Gaza and Israel.
“Keeping people hemmed in and on the brink of famine will not guarantee the security of Gaza’s neighbors”, he said.
The statement came after talks for an extension of the ceasefire began in Cairo – the talks ended with both parties agreeing to a one-day peace extension.
Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who is also a member of the security cabinet, said that Israel should abandon all attempts to talk with Hamas, albeit indirectly.
“We have to stop the negotiations with Hamas immediately and take our fate into our own hands, based on very simple parameters: humanitarian aid ‘yes’, terror ‘no’,” he told army radio.We do not conduct negotiations, not even indirectly, with people who use terror against us directly”, he said.
However, Israel began implementing several unilateral measures to ease conditions for the people in Gaza – Israel lifted the total ban on fishing and now allows fishermen to go as far as three nautical miles into the sea, as a “sign of goodwill”.
