EU and partners launch $1 billion scheme to help Gaza recover from war
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FILE PHOTO: European Union flags fly outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium September 19, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - The European Commission and more than a dozen countries launched an initiative on Monday to deliver €883.6 million ($1 billion) in aid projects to help Gaza recover from war.
The small coastal enclave remains in ruins more than 2-1/2 years after the conflict was triggered by the October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since last October, and the United Nations has estimated the cost of rebuilding work in Gaza at around $70 billion.
The "Team Gaza Initiative", launched at a meeting of aid donors in Brussels, will support projects such as restoring water and sanitation, removing debris and re-establishing health systems, the Commission said in a statement.
Spain, Denmark, Britain, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are taking part in the initiative, along with the Commission itself, the statement said. Australia and Canada are also expected to join.
"Our objective is clear: to help build hope, resilience and a better future for the Palestinian people," said Dubravka Suica, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean.
The European Commission did not provide a breakdown of how much each partner would contribute to the new initiative.
Israel's devastating aerial and ground bombardment of Gaza displaced nearly the entire population of 2 million people, most of whom now live in tents or damaged buildings in a greatly reduced coastal strip of territory governed by Hamas.
Israeli troops control nearly 70% of Gaza, patrolling what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes as a buffer zone to deter Hamas attacks. Netanyahu says Israel will not withdraw from the territory.
($1 = 0.8747 euros)
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Andrew Gray; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Hugh Lawson)
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