The pitch for foreign aid comes while the current cease-fire between Hamas and Israel still is waiting for talks that are supposed to change its status from “temporary” to something else that sounds longer-term. In the meantime, Hamas is re-arming.
“It seems like just throwing money away if you’re – if what you’re going to contribute to is…just going to get knocked down again,” reporters asked U.S. State Dept. spokeswoman Jen Psaki Wednesday.
“This is like the sixth or seventh time. And I know particularly the Europeans have been very upset that they’re one of the largest – or if not the largest contributor to Gaza reconstruction and the Palestinians, and this money is just basically thrown down the drain…
“How do you give them the humanitarian and reconstruction aid that they need and not – make sure that this doesn’t happen again?…
“Without a ceasefire, why would you tell the Israelis that you want them to give material and/or money to Gaza reconstruction without a ceasefire when it – very possible that it could then be used against them?”
Psaki pointed out that “there’s a ceasefire now [and] we’re working towards a lasting ceasefire, and… we believe that there needs to be a reconstruction of Gaza.”
In short, she has no answer.