LONDON: More people are likely to die of hunger than war in Gaza, the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund told the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.
“If we are not careful, maybe more people will be killed or die from hunger and famine than the war itself. So, we don’t want to wait long to see that happening. I think that the time to move is now,” Mohammad Mustafa said.
He said Israel should allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip so that the population has access to necessities like food, medicine, water and electricity.
“It’s a big issue to bring in humanitarian assistance. Many good people, countries, and institutions have tried to bring in some aid to Gaza in the last few weeks. Not enough has been allowed because of the scanning process that the Israeli forces insist on, slowing the process significantly,” he said.
A minimum of $15 billion would be needed to rebuild housing in the Gaza Strip, Mustafa said, as at least 350,000 housing units have been completely or partially damaged due to the war.
The Palestinian leadership would, in the short-term, continue to focus on humanitarian aid including food and water but eventually the focus would shift to reconstruction, he added.
He said that money would not solve the problem in Gaza, however, and that a political solution was necessary.
“Money will not solve Gaza’s problem. It’s going to take more than that; it’s going to take a political solution and a logistical revolution.
“If you watch what’s happening today, and how the humanitarian assistance is being handled, and how difficult it is for people just to get a (drop) of water, or to get some food from a truck that’s coming, it’s a disaster. It’s scary, it’s very sad. So even as we bring in things into Gaza, we need a proper system, a well-managed system to handle the humanitarian effort.
“Without handling the humanitarian efforts properly, we will all regret that we have not done enough to save the situation. So, I will continue to focus on the humanitarian effort in the short term and the medium term,” Mustafa said.
“But eventually we’ll get to reconstruction. And we’ll hopefully get the borders opened, and hopefully be able to go to a reconstruction conference … and hopefully people will come in, but we will hopefully be able to commit to them that this time around, it’s going to be the last time and peace will come soon after that,” he added.
