Much of Gaza remains in shambles since Israels war against the coastal territory in summer 2014, which killed more than 2,500 people and wreaked huge destruction across the strip.
Since 2007, Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza which has one of the worlds highest unemployment rates and poverty is widespread.
Israel on Monday announced it had stopped private imports of cement to the enclave, accusing Hamas of diverting supplies.
Hamasdenied the accusation, saying the imports were in line with a UN-brokered Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, aimed at allowing for reconstruction following Israel's threedevastating wars since 2008.
Robert Piper, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, also said he did nothave the evidence to support the Israeli accusation.
Imad al-Baz, deputy director of the Economy Ministry in Gaza, said the Hamas governmentdoesn't interfere with the cement mechanism.He saidall cement distribution sites in Gaza are monitored by Israeli cameras.
Baz warned that Israels decision would have dire consequences.
If Israel continues to prevent the supply of cement to Gaza, the situation will explode in the face of the occupation and it will bear the responsibility, he said.
The decision would be stopping the wheels of reconstruction, destroying the economy and increasing unemployment with adverse repercussions for tens of thousands of citizens, Baz added.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"]
A Palestinian girl sits and eats in the rubble of her destroyed home following an overnight Israeli strike on Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, August 2, 2014. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]The UN has decried the Israeli devastation and human suffering left behind by the offensives in Gaza as unprecedented.
The UK-based international charity organization Oxfam has warned that rebuilding the territory would take more than 100 years with an Israeli blockade in place.
Oxfam saysthe strip is in dire need of more than 800,000 truckloads of construction materials to lift itself out of the ruination caused by the war.
