Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi said on Thursday that an international donor's conference on Gaza reconstruction held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was a failure.

Hashemi-Shahroudi attributed the failure to the fact that the high-profile conference ignored the Hamas government ruling the Gaza Strip, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"Palestinian authority under the presidency of Mahmoud Abbas should not receive the pledged fund in the conference as it does not have the legitimacy to reconstruct the Gaza Strip" hit by a massive Israeli offensive, he said.

Hamas has been ruling Gaza since June 2007 when the radical group grabbed control of the coastal enclave from security forces loyal to Abbas.

"In Sharm el-Sheikh, the U.S. and the European states, which were united to destroy Hamas, have attended a conference to reconstruct Palestine (Gaza). They have used all of their facilities to eradicate the Palestinians of Gaza Strip," he added.

On Monday, officials and representatives from over 70 countries and organizations pledged 4.48 billion U.S. dollars of donation to shore up the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian economic recovery.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank and the Hamas-run government in Gaza have each insisted on leading the rebuilding efforts. However, the Western donors, which brand Hamas as a terror group, had vowed that no funds would go to the Islamic movement.

The 22-day Israeli warfare with the declared aim of ending Palestinian rocket and mortar fire against the south of the Jewish state killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and destroyed over 14,000 homes, 68 government buildings and 31 offices of non-governmental organizations.

Iran, a staunch ally with Hamas, never hesitated to pronounce its all-out support for the Gaza Hamas rulers.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Tehran hosted an international conference in support of Palestinians, calling for trial of Israeli leaders for their latest attack on Gaza.

Source:Xinhua