Hamas leaders call on UN to speed up reconstruction in Gaza

Hamas leaders Thursday called on envoy of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Middle East to work harder on speeding up the stalled process of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.
Leaders of Hamas movement in Gaza and Robert Serry, the envoy of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Middle East, met in Gaza city on Thursday, the movement said.
Following a 50-day large-scale air and ground military operation Israel waged on the Gaza Strip on July 8, and large destructions of housing and infrastructure were left in the Gaza Strip.
International donors, who convened in Cairo on Oct 12, pledged 5.4 billion U.S. dollars for Gaza reconstruction. However, the process was obstructed due to a growing tension between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Hamas statement said that its delegation, which met with Serry at the UN headquarters in Gaza city, was headed by Musa Abu Marzooq and Ghazi Hammad, a senior Hamas official.
The statement said that Abu Mrzooq informed Serry that it is necessary to speed up the process of reconstruction and permanently open all the closed crossing points with the Gaza Strip.
Serry has also met earlier with several ministers in the Palestinian unity government in Gaza, while hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated before the UN headquarters calling on the UN to speed up the reconstruction of their destroyed houses.