Palestinian Authority demands Israel cover Gaza reconstruction costs

By Awad Rajoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Palestinian Authority urged Israel on Tuesday to bear the financial burden of rebuilding the Gaza Strip and to demonstrate a greater commitment to maintaining the two-state solution.

"Israel must be held accountable for the devastation and casualties in the Gaza Strip and assume the responsibility for its reconstruction,'' Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said during a meeting with Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Tsuji Kiyoto in Ramallah.

Shtayyeh’s government will serve as a caretaker administration until a new government can be formed after he resigned on Monday.

Shtayyeh also condemned Israel's actions, saying that it ''perpetrates severe atrocities against the Palestinian people, fosters apartheid and behaves as if it is immune to legal consequences.''

He stressed that "the priority is to halt the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and to open more crossings with the Gaza Strip to allow urgent humanitarian and medical aid."

Shtayyeh also advocated for "further efforts to preserve the two-state solution and implement it on the ground, achieving this by ending the occupation and recognizing the state of Palestine within the 1967 borders with its capital in Jerusalem.''

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, killing nearly 30,000 people and causing mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio