UN envoy: Palestinian political stalemate is stalling Gaza rebuilding
The main UN aid agency in the coastal enclave said on Tuesday it was suspending payments to tens of thousands of Palestinians for repairs to homes damaged in the July-August war with Israel because money from international donors had run out.
"We need a government ... that is able to take responsibility," Robert Serry, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary General's personal envoy to the Palestinians, told Reuters.
He said a stable, functioning administration in the Gaza Strip was vital for donor countries to have confidence that their money would be used effectively. But donors, for their part, had provided far too little funding, he said.
"We have a (UN) mechanism that is working but almost everything else is not in place and that influences decisions of donors ... (but) I am not (absolving) donors for their responsibilities, the fact that so little money is available is scandalous," he added.
