PA unity government not taking over Gaza crossings yet

Despite assurances over the weekend that the Palestinian unity government would take over Gaza border crossings on Sunday, Palestinian sources denied that such a plan was in place.

Maher Abu Sabha, a Palestinian border official, and Gaza Interior Ministry official Kamil Abu Mahdi said that the unity government would not be taking over the crossings on Sunday, according to the Palestinian Ma’an news agency.

“No changes at all have been made to the Palestinian teams operating border crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip,” one source was quoted as saying.

The Palestinian Authority and Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa had said that officials from the Palestinian unity government would take over the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings on Sunday. He told Ma’an that the PA would monitor building materials entering the Strip, while health, agriculture, housing and civil affairs officials will deal with imports in their respective fields.

Meanwhile on Sunday, international donors pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to rebuild the battered Gaza Strip and urged Israel and the Palestinians to renew peace efforts.

Gas-rich Qatar led the way at a donors conference in Cairo with a promise of $1 billion (NIS 3.73 billion) in aid to the coastal enclave, devastated by its 50-day summer conflict with Israel.

Washington pledged $212 million (NIS 790 million) and European Union member states €450 million (NIS 2.1 billion), but there was clear concern at financing the reconstruction of Gaza after yet another round of violence without a peace deal on the horizon.

The crowded coastal region, ruled by the Islamist militant Hamas movement since 2007, remains a “tinderbox,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned, announcing plans to visit Gaza on Tuesday.