PA forms committee to take over Gaza crossings

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has established an official committee to take over control of Gaza’s crossings in a bid to accelerate the reconstruction of the war-battered territory, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported Monday.

The rehabilitation is more or less frozen, according to Palestinian officials. International donors have so far failed to deliver the billions of dollars in aid money that was promised to rebuild the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Monday.

In the wake of the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas over the summer, international donors promised — at a conference in Cairo in October — $2.7 billion to help rebuild Gaza. But, according to Mustafa, “not even one penny” has been received from major donors such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

“All the parties still have fears about the situation — whether the political situation, or the reconciliation or the border crossings,” he said.

The new committee will be led by the PA’s Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh, a statement from Hamdallah said, and will include as members the PA’s Head of Crossings Nathmi Mhanna and Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs Nasser al-Sarraj, Ma’an reported. But it needs cooperation from Gaza’s Hamas rulers to work, the report noted.

Also Monday, some 220 tons of medical supplies entered Gaza through the Gaza-Egypt crossing at the Rafah Border Crossing, under the supervision of the Egyptian Red Crescent.

The supplies were sent by Qatar and Algeria.

Rival Palestinian groups Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Western-backed Fatah, which governs the West Bank, formed a unity government earlier this year. But the government is still not functioning, and the sides have argued over how to carry out reconstruction, including who will control the crossings with Israel, through which the building materials will pass.