EU says donors offering $1b to help Gaza 'early recovery'

BRUSSELS, July 13: The EU said Monday that European donors had put some $1 billion on the table to help initial recovery efforts in war-torn Gaza.

"We will present the initial package today of almost 900 million euros or one billion dollars," DubravkaSuica, EU commissioner for the Mediterranean, said ahead of a donor meeting in Brussels.

"We now need the conditions on the ground that will allow the support to reach the people in Gaza."

The funds -- which officials said include money already pledged to help Gaza -- would be used to clear debris left from Israel's devastating military offensive and rebuild basic services such as water and sanitation.

"The governments of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, together with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, are participating," Brussels said.

The EU said Suica had on a recent visit to Israel "reached agreement with the Israeli authorities on next steps for the implementation of two major projects in the areas of waste and water management in Gaza".

The commissioner said donors "want to start with so-called early recovery, and it is very important to show that we are willing to do it."

"But to do that, we need disarmament of Hamas in order to start proper recovery," she said.

The humanitarian needs of Gaza remain overwhelming.

Representatives from the US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, meant to help prepare for post-war Gaza, attended the Brussels meeting.

Suica said that should help "ensure coordination and complementarity in our action" on efforts on rebuilding the territory.

The meeting -- which included Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa -- was also to evaluate reforms by the Palestinian Authority in light of further aid.

The EU is the biggest international donor to the Palestinians.

The second phase of the ceasefire, which was to involve Hamas's disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, has been stalled for months.

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers on Monday discussed imposing an import ban on products from Israeli settlements, after pressure from a raft of member states.

"Everybody agrees that the situation in the West Bank is really intolerable,"  EU foreign policy chief KajaKallas said at the start of a meeting in Brussels.

"What is happening in the West Bank is actually making it more and more impossible that the two-state solution ever can come into effect."

Several EU countries -- including Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain -- have already imposed their own trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, considered illegal under international law.

Under pressure for the EU as a whole to take measures, the bloc's executive last week laid out options to curb trade with settlements, including a ban.�" AFP