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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday additional 212 million U.S. dollars in assistance to Palestinian people as an international donor conference for rebuilding Gaza opened in Cairo.
"The humanitarian challenges were enormous and the people of Gaza need our help desperately, not tomorrow, not next week, they need it now," Kerry said in his remarks.
Washington has already committed some 118 million dollars before. The Palestinian Authority has asked for 4 billion U.S. dollars to reconstruct the Gaza Strip, devastated during a 50-day conflict.
Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli offensive, while attacks by Gaza militants killed 73 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers. More than 100,000 Palestinian people were left homeless.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said at the conference that "Gaza has suffered three wars in six years. The entire neighborhoods have been destroyed. There is a tangible need for funds to bring back government institutions, because they have all been destroyed."
In a brief statement on the sidelines of the event, State Department Deputy spokesperson Marie Harf termed the conference on the construction of the Gaza Strip as very important.
Harf expected that the conference will result in offering aid supplies and funds which may be enough for the reconstruction process.
Kerry added the capabilities should be provided for Gaza to build an economic system that guarantees the needs of the citizens, adding that the U.S. funds would go to relief and budget support for the Palestinian Authority.
However, the aids won't resolve the Palestinian cause unless both sides seek true peace talks.
Kerry called for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, saying "Ceasefire is not peace. We got to get back to the table and help people make tough choices, real choices about more than just a cease-fire."
"The people of Gaza will remain at risk of future conflict," Kerry said as possibility of other conflicts is standing if not returning to negotiations table.
UN Chief Ban Ki-moon also warned that another conflict could erupt. "Gaza remains a tinderbox, the people desperately need to see results in their daily lives," he said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stressed in the conference opening speech that there was no alternative for " comprehensive peace talks to settle the Palestinian issue and restore rights of the Palestinian people."
Sisi urged Israel to consider launching new peace efforts based on an Arab initiative first presented in 2002, which offered full recognition of Israel but only if it gave up all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war. Enditem
