GAZA CITY, July 16: Billion of dollars are needed to rebuild Palestinian infrastructure wrecked by the Israeli army during its reoccupation of large parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayad said on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Authority “needs billions of dollars to repair and rebuild what the Israeli army destroyed in Palestinian areas,” the minister told reporters after the authority was awarded 20 million dollars in direct US aid at a ceremony in the northern Gaza Strip town in Beit Hanun.

“We are facing a real crisis in rebuilding; international and US efforts will undoubtedly help,” he said, stressing it was the “first time direct US aid was being transferred to the Palestinian treasury.”

Washington announced last week it would provide direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, rewarding US-backed political and security reforms with money for humanitarian projects.

The US Congress appropriated a total of 50 million dollars, including the 20 millions dollars for the Palestinain Authority, in humanitarian assistance to the West Bank and Gaza under the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2003.

The aid package is destined to “support municipal services and the repair and rehabilitation of municipal infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza,” the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said.—AFP