Gaza Still Awaiting Aid

None of the pledged $4.5 billion in aid has been able to get to the Gaza strip because of border restrictions.

International donors pledged the aid money in March to help the Palestinian economy and rebuild Gaza after a three-week Israeli military offensive.

But John Ging, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said Gaza had still not benefited from any of the aid because of restrictions on the flow of goods into the territory.

"There is no prospect of recovery or reconstruction until we can get access for construction materials," Ging said.

Since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in a 2007 civil war with Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, Israel has tightened its blockade of the 30-mile (45-km) strip in an effort to weaken Hamas's hold on power.

Egypt has also restricted crossings at its border with Gaza.