Gaza aid would go up in the flames of war

After the 11-day conflict between Hamas and Israel, many countries offered to help rebuild the Gaza Strip provided Hamas does not intervene in the reconstruction efforts.

UN humanitarian workers on the ground say it will take weeks to find out how much money is needed to repair the damage inflicted on thousands of buildings during the May conflict. Recent reports estimated that rebuilding in Gaza might cost billions of dollars.

So far, the only pledges to contribute to that effort come from Egypt and Qatar, with 500 million dollars each. Yet, many parties are wary of Qatar’s contribution as Qatari funds have previously gone directly to support Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated terrorist groups.

Hamas seized full control of Gaza, the tiny territory, from the Palestinian Authority in a bloody internal battle in 2007, a year after it won the last general election.

Recent analysis concluded that only about half of aid pledges to Gaza in 2014 were met after the previous clashes with Israel devastated the Strip. The international community then promised 5.4 billion dollars in aid.

According to the analysis, the majority of unfulfilled promises came from Persian Gulf Arab states that opposed Iranian-allied Hamas and hoped that delays in rebuilding would erode Hamas’s legitimacy in the Strip.

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s middle east tour report, US officials have in recent days visited the UAE to coordinate efforts to rebuild Gaza, but Abu Dhabi conveyed a clear message to Washington that it would provide direct humanitarian support to Gaza, but it would not finance any such mechanism if Hamas has a role in it.

On his recent visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank, UK's Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said it was "crucially important" to ensure funds went to "the Palestinian people, to alleviate their plight, and do not drift into the pockets of Hamas".

The US, the EU, Israel and the rest of Gulf countries are opposed to any aid that might benefit Hamas financially. Still, it is a clear fact that any involvement of Hamas in the reconstruction efforts will most likely hinder outside assistance, particularly Gulf contributions.