The Arab and International Commission to Build Gaza has clinched the first ever formal deal that would bring construction materials into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing.

The AICBG lauded the Egyptian army and new government in Egypt for allowing the first bag of cement to officially cross over to Gaza.

The deal was signed by the British Aloha Palestine and the Egyptian international coalition to end the siege and build the Gaza Strip after European activists successfully got the first bag of cement into Gaza via the crossing, said AICBG President Kanaan Abeed.

”The deal is symbolic. When it successfully arrives in Gaza, other larger scale deals will be made that will dispense with the need for "Israel",” Abeed said in a press statement on Wednesday.

Under the deal, clinched during a meeting between Abeed, Egyptian coalition director Ahmed al-Aasi and Aloha Palestine director-general Ken O'Keefe, the commission purchased 10 tons of Egyptian cement and the British company was responsible for bringing the material into Gaza through the Rafah crossing under international trade laws.

Ken O'Keefe said there are no laws prohibiting using the Rafah crossing for that purpose and confirmed his company would be able to do so.

PIC/AB