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Gaza reconstruction slow, but will speed up within coming months: official

Xinhua, July 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Although one year has passed for the Israeli large-scale war waged on the Gaza Strip, the internationally-donated plan for the reconstruction of the coastal enclave goes too slow, but will speed up soon, a senior United Nations (UN) official said on Wednesday.

Robert Turner, the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA), told a news briefing held in Gaza, as he is leaving office after serving at the post for three years, that although the reconstruction process goes too slow, "but I expect more progress within the coming months."

"Over the past year, the process of reconstruction has been going very slow, and I clearly understand the loss of hope of Gaza populations and I really share with them their depression they feel in the respect of speeding up the reconstruction of their destroyed homes," Turner told reporters.

In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians marked on Wednesday the first year anniversary of the large-scale Israeli military operation waged on the Gaza Strip on July 8, 2014.

The 50-day conflict left around 2,200 Palestinians dead and wounded 11,000 others.

The conflict ended after Egypt brokered a truce between Israel and Gaza Hamas-led militants.

International donors, who pledged 5.4 billion U.S. dollars to rebuild the devastated area, so far haven't been able to fulfill their promises due to the complicated political situation between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority and the internal split between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank.

"I believe that we are passing a sensitive period of time and I expect that there is a substantial progress achieved in the respect of reconstruction in Gaza," Turner said, adding that "hope is back after agreeing to start the first phase of reconstruction more than 600 completely destroyed houses."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian ministry of housing and public work began on Wednesday the delivery of cements, gravel and steel to the owners of houses that were destroyed during the war. The ministry published the names of 662 house owners and asked them to get the reconstruction material.

"This slight progress doesn't mean that this progress is a final solution to the crisis in Gaza; we have the bigger problem which is the political disability and leaving Gaza without a real professional government," said Turner, referring to the endless internal feuds between Hamas and Fatah movements.

Turner also stressed that the ongoing Israeli blockade, which has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than eight years "is hard to ignore," adding that "the blockade has its destructive influence although Israel has a wish to improve some of these influences, but still this is not enough."

The UN official called on Israel to completely end the blockade, saying that "now, there is a golden opportunity for improving the situation in the Gaza Strip. Now I don't see that the parties are seeking again for another war in Gaza, so we have to grab the opportunity and make the needed improvement." Endit