Hamas has been in a funk because donor money for reconstructing buildings in Gaza damaged during Operation Protective Edge has not been forthcoming – so to “let off some steam,” rioting Gaza youths trashed and damaged a UNWRA building in Gaza Wednesday. Hamas did not intervene to prevent the youths from expressing their “outrage” at the failure of UNWRA to convince donors to come through with the promised billions.
On Tuesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that it could not afford to repair Gaza homes damaged in last year's war with Israel because donors have failed to pay the amounts they pledged. "The agency has exhausted all funding to support repairs and rental subsidies, and of the $5.4 billion was pledged at the Cairo conference last October, virtually none has reached Gaza. This is distressing and unacceptable," the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said in a statement.
In a statement, UNRWA Director in Gaza Robert Turner said that people in Gaza “are desperate and the international community cannot even provide the bare minimum – for example a repaired home in winter – let alone a lifting of the blockade, access to markets or freedom of movement. We’ve said before that quiet will not last, and now the quiet is at risk.”
On Wednesday, that “quiet” was indeed violated – with UNWRA itself the target. Hamas had no comment on the rioting, but a spokesperson said that failure to forward the money post-haste could result in “the growth of radical terrorist organizations. Our message to the world, which fears the growth of terrorism and fanaticism, is that preventing the flow of funds to Gaza will increase the strength of the radicals.