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Israel, U.S. responsible for blocking Gaza reconstruction

By Ahmed Dabba, Saud Abu Ramadan: 0 Comments Print E-mail Xinhua, December 27, 2010

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The United States and Israel are responsible for obstructing Gaza Strip's reconstruction process after Israel's Cast Lead Operation against the enclave that ended in January 2009, a senior official of the deposed Hamas government told Xinhua on Sunday.

Mourners carry the bodies of two Palestinian militants during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 26, 2010. Israeli forces killed two Palestinian militants Sunday morning in armed clashes near the Gaza Strip borders, security and medical sources said. The killing of the two militants, who Islamic Jihad movement claims belong to its military wing, came amid a new wave of cross-border violence which escalated for recent days. [Khaled Omar/Xinhua]

Yousef Mansi, minister of housing and public work in the Hamas government told Xinhua in an interview that both the Israel and the United States "are still blocking any process of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip by tightening the blockade and pressuring on Hamas and the Palestinians."

He accused Israel and the United States of pressuring on regional and international parties "to tighten the Israeli siege and keeping it imposed to block any opportunity of reconstructing the Gaza Strip despite the humanitarian needs of the people."

"The ongoing obstruction is a big shame for humanity. There are hundreds of displaced Palestinians who live in tents and don't have houses after they were destroyed by the Israeli occupation during the war, and the Palestinians haven't received any compensation," said Mansi.

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