The United Nations said that the reconstruction aid to more than 1,350 Gazan families has been suspended due to a dire shortage of building material.

The United Nations said that the reconstruction aid to  more than 1,350 Gazan families has been suspended due to a dire shortage of building materials, as Palestinian resistance movement Hamas movement warned against the continuation of Israeli siege.

The Gaza Strip has been chronically suffering from the dearth of construction materials caused by an Israeli blockade that has been rigorously enforced upon it since 2007. The inadequacy was exacerbated after Tel Aviv prevented the cement imports earlier this month, accusing the Gaza-based Hamas of diverting the supplies.

On Friday, a statement from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that "organizations providing assistance have had to suspend cash assistance for house repairs to over 1,370 families as a result of scarcity and acute price increases."

The Tel Aviv ban has led to severe shortages across the coastal sliver, it noted, adding, "In addition, payment to 1,550 families scheduled to start reconstruction are being delayed due to the lack of available cement."

Hamas has denied the Israeli accusation, saying the imports were in line with a UN-brokered Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, aimed at allowing for reconstruction following Israel's three devastating wars since 2008.

Reacting to the Israeli ban, Imad al-Baz, deputy director of the Economy Ministry in Gaza, said the Hamas government does not interfere with the cement distribution mechanism. He said all the distribution sites in Gaza are monitored by Israeli cameras.

Robert Piper, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, has also said he does not have the evidence to support the Israeli accusation.