Deeply Concerned About Gaza, Secretary-Generals of United Nations, League of Arab States, Appeal to Donors to Honour Financial Pledges

The following joint statement was issued today by the Spokespeople for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and League of Arab States Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby:

The Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the League of Arab States express their deep concern over the situation in Gaza.  They urgently appeal to donors to honour and disburse as soon as possible their financial commitments made at the October 2014 Cairo Conference.  This support should also include funding for United Nations agencies that are carrying out vital operations in Gaza, in order to prevent a further deterioration in the already dire humanitarian situation.

The pace of reconstruction in Gaza remains slow.  It is crucial now to expand the scope of reconstruction efforts thus far to bring hope to the people of Gaza and ensure stability, based on international responsibility in reconstruction and lifting the siege.

Both Secretaries-General note the progress made so far under the temporary Gaza reconstruction mechanism, which has to date enabled access to construction material for some 55,000 Gazan homeowners in support of shelter repairs.  The operations of the mechanism are ready to be scaled up to facilitate the swift implementation of major large-scale projects.