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Earnest efforts urged to speed up Gaza reconstruction

Xinhua, April 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

A United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) official said Sunday that an international conference addressing the Gaza Strip's reconstruction will be held in Ramallah within 10 days.

During a press conference, Gaza's UNRWA Director of Operations, Bo Schack, declared that Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, will chair the conference on April 13.

He added that the United Nations (UN) and donor states will participate in the conference along with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and other states independently implementing projects in Gaza.

Schack said "the conference is very important as it is the only one following the Gaza Reconstruction conference held in Egypt in October 2014," elaborating that the conference will address the reconstruction issue, obstacles faced by the UNRWA plus its financial situation.

He added that the conference "will deal with the needs, problems, requirements and solutions to this crisis."

In October 2014, an international conference on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip was held in Cairo where the international donor community pledged 5.4 billion U.S. dollars for the project.

However, the Palestinian government said it received only 28 percent of the pledged amount.

Nonetheless, Schack cited progress and said that the UNRWA still has funds from Germany for the reconstruction of 2,000 houses.

Furthermore, 700 families received financial instalments for their reconstruction of their houses, and 70,000 lightly damaged houses received funds for repairs.

Schack also disclosed that there are ongoing negotiations with Israeli authorities over the issue of banning cement in Gaza, hoping for a swift resolution to this critical factor.

Palestinian officials said Saturday that Israeli authorities suddenly suspended exports of construction material to the Palestinian private sector, except for cement allocated towards Qatari and other international projects, stating the issue threatens reconstruction plans.

In 2014, Israel's army waged a large scale military air and ground offensive against the Gaza Strip for 50 days, killing 2,200 Palestinians and injuring over 11,000.

The offensive also caused large scale destruction to the housing, infrastructure, agriculture and industry sectors. Endit