India has committed $4 million for Gaza reconstruction at the Cairo International Conference. Altogether, the donors, numbering over 75 countries, have pledged $5.4 billion in response to the recovery plan presented by the Palestinian Authority. Qatar alone has promised $1bn, the United States of America $212m, the United Kingdom $32m while the United Arab Emirates and Turkey both committed $200m.
India’s contribution is over and above $1 million that it contributes annually to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) for supply of food and medicines in Gaza. The Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian pledge is part of the long sustained India-Palestine partnership as India has been providing direct budgetary assistance for capacity development, education and information technology to Palestine over the years apart from implementing a series of development projects under the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Fund in Palestine. This includes reconstruction of the Atta Habib medical centre in Shujiyaa, Gaza at a cost of $1 million. The NDA Government has maintained that there is no change in the foreign policy of India which the change of Government, saying it supported the cause of Palestine.
India, which was represented by Sandeep Kumar, Joint Secretary (West Asia and North Africa) in Ministry of External Affairs, at the Conference on the Reconstruction of Gaza maintained that an early, sustainable resolution of the root cause of the conflict was an imperative. It was conveyed that India believed that a comprehensive dialogue remained the best guarantee of a durable peace for effectively addressing the issues confronting the region and its people.
Observing that the early realisation of the objectives of the Cairo Conference will be an important element in the consolidation of the current ceasefire understanding between Palestine and Israel, India also welcomed the mediating role played by Egypt in the current ceasefire in Gaza. Delegations of over 75 countries attend the Cairo Conference that was co-hosted by Egypt and Norway in which the Palestinian Authority had given a National Early Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for Gaza of about $4 billion.
Though Israel was not invited to the conference but its Foreign Minister Avigdor lieberman had conveyed that any rebuilding efforts at Gaza would need Israel's consent. The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the funds will go straight to the PA and not to any other Palestinian groups.