ANKARA/GENEVA: There are promising early indications from countries, including the United States as well as Arab and European states, about their willingness to contribute to the $70 billion cost of rebuilding Gaza, a United Nations Development Programme official said on Tuesday.
“We’ve had very good indications already,” UNDP’s Jaco Cilliers told reporters at a press conference in Geneva, without giving details. He estimated that the two-year Israel-Hamas war had generated at least 55 million tonnes of rubble.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan earlier said he will seek the support of Gulf states, the United States and Europe for the reconstruction of Gaza under the new ceasefire deal, and he believed project financing will be provided swiftly.
Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Sharm El-Sheikh, Erdogan said Western countries’ decisions to recognize the Palestinian state should be seen as building blocks of a two-state solution, according to a transcript shared by his office on Tuesday.
