Feature: In heavy downpours, Gazans yearn for faster reconstruction

With confusion and anxiety, Jabber Qdieh watched the rainfalls from a small window in a steal-made caravan in southern Gaza village, where he and his family have spent more than a year.

The 13-year-old boy worries that if rainwater leaks into the makeshift shelter, his family could have not place to spend the night.

Over the past few days, heavy rain poured all over the impoverished Gaza Strip. Dozens of caravans hosting those, including the Qdiehs, who lost their homes in Israel's mini war against the Strip in the summer of 2014 were immersed in water.

Sufian Qdieh, the father, told Xinhua that there are 12 members in the family. "We have been facing the terrible weather for five consecutive days. We can't find another shelter and the floor has become our mattresses," said the middle-aged man.

The outraged man spent the last four nights fighting the rainwater, trying his best to prevent the flood from running into the caravan. At the same time, he was very much concerned about his children's safety. It is the second tough winter that Qdieh and other families have been passing through since the end of the offensive.

The jobless father complained about the slack reconstruction in Gaza. "No one feels our pain or what we are passing through."

Palestinian official figures show that 18,000 housing units were completely destroyed during the Israeli offensive and over 30,000 homes were partially damaged. The operation also caused severe destruction in infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Rashed al-Najjar, another Gazan in the same village, told Xinhua that he has sent his children to his relatives and friends outside the village to avoid the risks of floods.

"In the summer, the caravan turns into a hot stove and during winter it turns into a cold refrigerator filled with rainwater," said al-Najjar. "All what we really want is to speed up the construction plan and rebuild our destroyed house."

Heavy downpours kept most of the Gazans indoors. Schools were suspended and streets were almost empty of traffics and people. During winter's tough days, they have no choice but to burn woods for heating.

Rescue and relief teams from several charities and local municipalities were unable to help the huge numbers of children and elder people who need quick relief in the coastal enclave.

However, their difficulties are more than that. Blackouts have become more frequent. Water pumps to drain up the floods could not work because of lack of fuel.

The UN for Relief and Work Agency announced in an official statement that it has provided urgent aids to 500 families in the Gaza Strip to help them fight the bad weather.

Senior Palestinian officials accused Israel of restricting the shipment of construction materials into Gaza, a main reason that slows the reconstruction. They warned that further delay would bring more suffering to the population.

"Israel should stop this policy of imposing restrictions on shipping construction materials to Gaza because this would postpone the construction plan and keep people living inside caravans forever," said Ali-Hayek, chairman of the Palestinian businessmen association.

In October, 2014, shortly after the Gaza war, international donors pledged 5.4 billion U.S. dollars to Palestine, most of it was allocated to reconstruct Gaza. However, according to Palestinian officials, only 30 percent of the pledged donations have been funded.

"Unfortunately, the construction plan is going too slow due to the shortage of international finance and the slow shipment of construction materials through Israeli-controlled crossing points to the Gaza Strip," said Mofid Hasayna, Palestinian minister of housing. Endit