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Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/100690/analysis-donors-threaten-to-withhold-gaza-aid
Donors Threaten to Withhold Gaza Aid
(IRIN Humanitarian News-UN) Pledges at the October 12 conference in Cairo on rebuilding Gaza could fall far short of what is needed to rebuild. "Without a [political breakthrough], I think we'll probably end up giving but it will be repackaging the assistance that we already give. In reality none of it will be new money," a senior European official said. Johan Schaar, the head of Development Cooperation at Sweden's Consulate General in the PA, said, "No one can expect us to go back to our taxpayers for a third time to ask for contributions to reconstruction and then we simply go back to where we were before all this began. That is out of the question." Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said the recent conflict had made it evident that Israel was "way too liberal" in allowing construction materials into the territory after the previous war in 2012, as he said much of it had been diverted to Hamas. "We encourage the international community to invest, but to invest responsibly - to have accountability and transparency to understand where their dollars are going," he said.