Roundup: UN decides to stop aiding Gazans with destroyed homes

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) decided on Tuesday to stop aiding Palestinian families whose homes were destroyed in the Israeli offensive waged on the Gaza Strip in July and August last year.

UNRWA said in an emailed press statement that the decision was taken due to a severe shortage of donations pledged by Arab and international donors during the two-day donors' conference held in Cairo last October.

Palestinians were frustrated by such a decision, which would compel tens of thousands of families in Gaza to take refuge again to schools run by the international aid organizations.

"UNRWA had only received 135 million U.S. dollars out of 724 million (U.S. dollars), which were pledged by the international donors' conference held in Cairo on October 12 last year for reconstruction in the Gaza Strip," said the statement.

The humanitarian aid organization complained that the pledged money wasn't all paid while the number of the destroyed houses, which belong to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, reached 96,000.

"UNRWA has already paid 77 million U.S. dollars to 66,000 families either to renovate their badly damaged houses or to pay temporary rent," said the statement.

Meanwhile, Robert Turner, UNRWA director of operations in the Gaza Strip, said the delay of paying the pledged donations "is unacceptable and causes frustration."

"Suffering during this winter is endless and families still live in the middle of the debris of their destroyed homes while there are cases of children who died of cold," said Turner.

On July 8 last year, Israel waged a 50-day large-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip that ended on Aug. 26. The air and ground campaign left large destruction in housing, industry and infrastructure in the war-torn strip.

"It is still unclear if we'll receive all the pledged donations for reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, therefore UNRWA warns of crucial consequences due to this shortage and this calm won't last for too long," said Turner.

Meanwhile, Hamas movement's spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri slammed the decision of UNRWA, adding "the decision is a serious development and shows that they intended to postpone the reconstruction process."

"The United Nations has to bear full responsibility as long as it agreed earlier to take part in the process of reconstructing the Gaza Strip," said Abu Zuhri. "It looks that there is a conspiracy to punish the people in Gaza by delaying the reconstruction of what the Israeli occupation caused in its last war on Gaza."

Since the end of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in Aug 26, owners of either partially or completely destroyed houses have been demonstrating on a daily basis, calling on the international community, the UN, Israel and the Palestinian National Authority to help them rebuild their destroyed homes.

A full process of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip hasn't yet started. All that happened over the past five months was just paying temporary rents to families whose homes were destroyed.

Officials in the Palestinian unity government, which was formed in last June, said that since the donors' conference was held, where donors pledged 5.4 billion U.S. dollars for Gaza reconstruction, the Palestinians had only received 1 percent of the pledged amount.

Abdullah Abdullah, a senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, told Xinhua that the main reason for the lack of donations "is disturbing and blocking the unity government from working freely in Gaza."

Although a unity government was formed last year, Hamas movement still controls the coastal enclave. Both Hamas and Fatah traded accusations. Such disputes between the two rival groups are one of the major reasons for delaying the process of reconstruction.

Adnan Abu Aamer, political science professor at al-Ummah University in Gaza, told Xinhua that the ongoing shortage of international donations "is ringing a bell that the consequences will be negative and the populations would lose their temper sooner or later."

"Under such circumstances, the delay of reconstruction would make life in the Gaza Strip more and more difficult day after day. Therefore, the decision makers of the Palestinians should hurry up and rescue the situation before the situation goes from bad to worse in Gaza," said Abu Aamer. Endit