CAIRO, Dec 23 (Aswat Masriya) - Egyptian authorities have allowed 500 tonnes of bitumen into the Gaza Strip through the Awga crossing in Central Sinai on Tuesday evening.

The Awga crossing lies 40 kilometers south of the border town of Rafah, and is used by commercial trucks moving between Egypt and Israel.

So far 1500 tonnes of bitumen have entered the Gaza Strip, in addition to 750 thousand litres of diesel, state-run MENA quoted Ibrahim al-Argany, the Chief Executive Officer of the company contracted to transport reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip. 

This will be followed by the transportation of around 50 thousand tonnes of cement, and 10 thousand tonnes of iron to resume the reconstruction process, al-Argany added.

Israeli launched an offensive on the strip in July and August, destroying 18,000 houses, as estimated by the United Nations. The cost of rebuilding 17,000 homes was estimated at $2.5 billion by the Palestinian Authority in October, which added that the energy sector will require $250 million after the only power plant in Gaza was destroyed by Israeli missiles.

A long-term truce was announced by Egypt and welcomed by Israel and the Palestinians on August 26, ending a 50 day war that has left over 2100 Palestinians killed. On the Israeli side sixty-four soldiers and six civilians were killed.

In October, Egypt and Norway co-hosted an international donors conference on the reconstruction of the Strip in Cairo, raising around 5.4 billion dollars in donations. 

The donors included the United States, which announced it will provide the strip with $212 million worth of aid, France, which pledged 4 million Euros ($5,051,589.36) of immediate aid to the strip, as well as 30 million Euros ($37,886,920.17) until 2017, and Italy, which announced it would donate 30 million Euros in cash and goods worth of an equal amount during the year 2015.

Gaza has been under a land, air and sea blockade enforced by Israel since 2007, after the Islamist group Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election and became in control of the strip. Egypt has mostly kept its border with Gaza closed since then.