Rebuilding Gaza top priority for Palestinian unity government

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and ministers of the unity government arrived here Thursday for a cabinet meeting expected to focus on rebuilding the Gaza Strip.

Hamdallah said that his government has launched a workshop on the reconstruction of Gaza, which suffered major destruction during the Israeli offensive that ended Aug 26, Xinhua reported.

"The efforts of the government will focus on various tracks to rescue Gaza and relieve its population," Hamdallah said.

"We are here to promote all sectors, rebuild and rehabilitate what was destroyed by the unfair occupation."

He stressed the "moral and humanitarian duty toward our people in Gaza" and efforts to "end division and empower the language of reconciliation".

It was the first time for Hamdallah and 12 cabinet ministers to be in Gaza since the government took office in early June.

Prior to Thursday's meeting, the first ever of the unity government in Gaza since Hamas' takeover of the enclave in June 2007, the new cabinet has been holding its weekly meetings in the West Bank, with four ministers joining via a video conference system.

Hamdallah called for a complete end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza Strip.

"Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip needs a complete lifting of the Israeli blockade that has been imposed for eight years," he said, urging the implementation of a 2005 agreement on operating Gaza crossings and lifting all restrictions.

Hamdallah said that his government would present a package of detailed development and humanitarian projects Sunday to an international donor conference on Gaza reconstruction scheduled to be held in Cairo next Sunday.

Dozens of people waving Fatah and Hamas flags gathered near the borders between northern Gaza Strip and Israel to receive Hamdallah and his entourage.

Security forces and police patrols were deployed along the road between northern Gaza and the house of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the site of the cabinet meeting, in western Gaza.