UN official warns of renewal of Palestinian-Israeli violence

A senior UN official warned on Wednesday of a renewal of violence between the Palestinians and Israel in the coming months, if the reconstruction in the Gaza Strip does not immediately start.

"If the current track of the situation in the Gaza Strip doesn't change, we are very much concerned that the fighting would resume," Robert Turner, head of operation of the UN Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) told reporters.

Starting on July 8, 2014, the Israeli army waged a 50-day large-scale air and ground operation in the Gaza Strip, leaving about 2,200 people killed and 11,000 wounded, in addition to a severe destruction of houses and infrastructure.

A pledged reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, which was made by Arab and foreign donors in Cairo last October, has not been fulfilled so far, as tens of thousands of families are still displaced and in need of urgent housing.

"The Gaza Strip's populations are outraged and depressed. We understand this fact because their situation is miserable, therefore we are so much worried that the future will carry a renewal of fighting," Turner said.

He stressed that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "these days is much worse that the situation before Israel launched its offensive on the territory in July and August."

"Postponing the process of reconstruction and not improving the living condition of the people rings a bill that the fighting might resume soon," Turner said, referring to the stalled internal reconciliation the Palestinians.

Turner complained that since last October, UNRWA has only received 135 million U.S. dollars out of the pledged 720 million "to renovate the partially destroyed houses in the Gaza Strip."

He also slammed the attempts of several militant groups to fire testing rockets into the sea. "This also shows that such actions would obstruct the needed international donations for reconstructing the Gaza Strip." Endit