Palestinian brothers Achmed and Hussama Kafana, ages 5 and 7, use the top of an umbrella as a prayer mat in the ruins of the Omar Abed El Aziz Mosque in Beit Hanoun during Friday prayers. The mosque was damaged during the war.

‘A dirty diaper’

One reason for the reluctance to deliver funds is the Islamist militant movement Hamas, which retains control of Gaza and its 1.8 million residents.

In joining a “unity government” last year, Hamas agreed to allow President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, the moderate government based in the West Bank, to return to Gaza. Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006, and Abbas’s Fatah party fought a bloody and losing battle against Hamas for control of Gaza in 2007.

In the months since the summer war, Hamas has rid itself of many of the responsibilities of governing, but not its grip on power.

Last month, the group’s military wing ran training camps for 17,000 youths, ages 15 to 21, to learn to shoot Kalashnikov rifles, jump through hoops of fire and perform basic first aid in preparation for the next battle with Israel. The camps were staged even as Hamas municipal employees went unpaid.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman predicted last week that another war with Hamas is “inevitable.” Israel and Hamas have fought three wars in six years.

Hamas security forces still exert control on their side of the three trade and travel crossings between Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Journalists arriving from Israel still must have their papers stamped and their permits approved by Hamas cadres.