STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) – Nations promised Friday to send $500 million in aid to the Palestinians, saying the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip turned critical while the world focused on halting a monthlong war in Lebanon.

Only 10 percent of the donations pledged at an aid conference in Stockholm were to be channeled through the U.N., raising concerns that sizable sums may go straight to the Hamas-led Palestinian government shunned by the West since it took power in March.

Some analysts questioned whether the aid would be delivered at all, noting that the international community has a dismal record of backing pledges with action.

Carin Jamtin, Sweden’s aid minister and the host of the conference, called the donations “a fantastic result” but expressed disappointment that so few pledges were made to the U.N.

Only $55 million was given toward the U.N. emergency appeal that had been the focus of the conference, while Egypt and some other countries made sizable donations that organizers said would be given directly to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

The United States, the European Union and other world donors cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in direct aid and cash transfers to the government after Hamas took office, leaving the Palestinian Authority unable to pay salaries to most of the 165,000 public workers.

Conditions in Gaza worsened after Israel launched a large-scale military offensive in the tiny coastal strip at the end of June in response to a raid by Hamas-allied militants who tunneled under the Gaza-Israel border, attacked an army post and captured an Israeli soldier.

Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks, is considered a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Israel.

Mohammad Mustafa, a top adviser to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said it did not matter how the money was distributed, “as long as it is assistance that gets to the people.”

“We assure you this money will go to a good cause,” he said. “This will be helpful money to save lives.”

No Hamas representative attended the conference.

The biggest donation – $250 million – came from Saudi Arabia. It was unclear how those funds would be distributed.

“If countries give specifically to (the Palestinian Authority), then of course it benefits Hamas,” said Magnus Norell, a Middle East expert with the Swedish Defense Research Agency.

He noted that Arab countries have not joined Western governments in the aid cutoff, which came in response to Hamas’ refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

“Besides, the EU ban isn’t really working anyway,” Norell said. “Hamas is supposed to be forced to change its behavior, and that hasn’t worked at all.”

Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said she was unaware of the specifics of the donations. Generally speaking, she said, Israel “has no problem” with aid to Palestinians, if it is indeed humanitarian.

With some countries not specifying how, or when, their donations will be distributed, it is likely that many of the pledges will never reach the Palestinians at all, said James Paul, the executive director of the New York-based Global Policy Forum.

“It is notorious that political leaders and governments, with a big flourish, promise to give money and then when the media go away they simply don’t come through,” Paul said. “It is extremely likely that this will be another case of that kind.”

The conference urged Israel to open up closed border crossings into Gaza to allow free movement for relief supplies, Jamtin said.

“Otherwise, none of this money can be used,” she said.

Meanwhile, the European Union said it has begun paying “social allowances” to 625,000 Palestinians left unpaid because of the government’s financial crisis.