Donors pledge $4.48 billion to rebuild Gaza

By Sue Pleming and Alastair Sharp

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - International donors pledged $4.481 billion on Monday to help the Palestinian economy and rebuild Gaza after Israel's three-week offensive, insisting their funds bypass the territory's Hamas rulers.

Gulf Arab states, the United States and the European Commission made significant pledges. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a news conference the pledges were new and would be paid over the next two years.

The United Nations and aid agencies said rebuilding the coastal enclave was a daunting task so long as border crossings with battered Gaza remained closed.

"The situation at the border crossings is intolerable. Aid workers do not have access. Essential commodities cannot get in," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told donors at a one-day conference on Gaza in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

"Our first and indispensable goal, therefore, is open crossings. By the same token, however, it is therefore essential to ensure that illegal weapons do not enter Gaza," he said.

Israel and Hamas were not invited to the conference which Egypt had called for after the end of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in January. The Jewish state says it supports efforts to help Palestinians in the strip, but wants assurances the aid money would not reach Hamas militants.

"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.

The Israeli offensive killed 1,300 Palestinians. Thirteen Israelis also were killed. The West shuns Hamas because it refuses to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept peace deals with the Jewish state.