Donors to pledge billions in Gaza aid

International donors are set to pledge at least $3bn (£2.1bn) in aid to the Palestinian Authority today mainly to rebuild Gaza, while shunning the battered territory's Islamist Hamas rulers.

Delegates from some 87 countries and financial organisations have converged on the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh for an international conference called by Egypt after the end of Israel's three-week military offensive on Gaza in January.

The Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas's rival, had hoped to raise $2.78bn at the one-day event, including $1.33bn for repairing damage in Gaza. But expected pledges from the United States, the European Union and Gulf Arab states exceed that amount.

Aid agencies say political and logistical problems, such as the Israeli-led blockade on the Gaza Strip, are likely to make efforts to use the funds raised at the event to rebuild the coastal enclave a daunting task.

"Money is very important but it is not going to solve the problem unless there is pressure from the international community on Israel to open all (border) crossings with Gaza," said Gasser Abdel-Razek, a spokesman for Oxfam International.

Israel and Hamas are not present at the conference. The Jewish state says it supports efforts to help Palestinians in Gaza, but wants assurances the aid money would not reach Hamas.

"We definitely don't want to see the goodwill of the international community exploited by Hamas and serve Hamas's extremist purposes," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"And therefore it is crucial that mechanisms will be in place to ensure the money reaches who it is intended for - the people of the Gaza Strip".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to pledge $300m (£210m) for Gaza reconstruction and $600m to support the Palestinian Authority's budget shortfalls, economic reforms and security and private sector projects run by the PA.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the money earmarked to Gaza will be channelled through the United Nations and other organisations, but not Hamas.

"Hamas is not getting any of this money," Wood told reporters late on Sunday in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The European Commission said last week it planned to pledge €436m (£385m). The money would be also earmarked to Gaza and the reforms of the Palestinian Authority.

The West shuns Hamas because it refuses to recognise Israel, renounce violence and commit to interim peace deals between Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority.

Gulf Arab states plan to pledge $1.65bn in aid over up to five years to rebuild Gaza. They said other Arab countries could join their plan.

But it remains unclear whether Israel would open the border crossings to large quantities of supplies like cement and steel needed to rebuild. Israel refuses the entry of materials it says could be also used by militants to build rockets.

Israel tightened its grip on Gaza's border crossings after Hamas took control in June 2007, and says it will closely manage Gaza reconstruction by requiring project-by-project approval and guarantees that projects will not benefit Hamas.