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International donors meeting in Egypt are expected to pledge billions of dollars to rebuild the Gaza Strip after it was battered during Israel's 22-day offensive earlier this year.
Up to 75 countries and international organizations are being asked to fund a $2.8bn reconstruction plan designed by Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, who wants a large part of the money to be channeled through the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
It remains unclear though how the planned reconstruction of Gaza will be undertaken. The territory is controlled by Hamas and Israel has said it will refuse to approve projects that could benefit the group.
Israel's blockade of the territory continues to prevent supplies, including construction materials, from crossing into Gaza.
Hamas has not been invited to the conference in Egypt.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas official, said that he welcomed efforts to address the needs of the Gazans.
"We hope this conference ... will be fruitful in making positive steps, quickly and effectively, to rebuild Gaza without politicization and preconditions that could complicate or create obstacles," he said.
'Humanitarian concern'
Marc Gopin, from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera that the donors' conference was "an attempt to demonstrate humanitarian concern".
But, he said, there was "no real addressing of the political fallout in the long run, as to whether there's going to be reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas and whether in fact this aid can really ever get in".
"They can't even get in humanitarian aid at this point because the [Israeli] blockade is so severe."
PHOTO CAPTION
A destroyed house in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip February 22, 2009.
Al-Jazeera
