Delegates from around 50 countries including India, the US and Russia will participate in a donors conference starting here tomorrow to chalk out plans for rebuilding the Gaza Strip following the recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant movement Hamas.
"Gaza Reconstruction Conference" is aimed at raising billions of dollars to rebuild around 17,000 Gazan homes razed by Israeli bombings during the seven-week conflict that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and left 100,000 others homeless.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will inaugurate the conference as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will deliver a speech and present a reconstruction plan for Gaza in the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry, 30 foreign ministers and various international monetary and humanitarian bodies.
The conference, co-organised by Egypt and Norway, will focus on the Strip's current humanitarian situation which remains dire and needs long-term recovery assistance and re-building.
Envoys from different countries today started arriving here as Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will hold meetings with a number of global delegates prior to the conference, el-Bawaba news website reported.
Earlier this month, the Palestinian government had called for about USD 4 billion to rebuild the war-battered territory.
Fighting between Israel and the Islamist militant group Hamas during July and August in Gaza had killed over 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, along with 64 Israeli soldiers and five civilians.
