A report published by Gaza’s Chamber of Commerce has revealed that 54% of Gaza’s reconstruction funds have not yet been paid, although donor countries have pledged to do so two years ago. The report noted that 1.596 billion dollars out of 3.5 billion dollars have been pledged by various donor countries have been delivered.
The report warned that the reconstruction process of Gaza might take several years if Israel does not change its current policies and allow more construction materials into Gaza.
OCHA, reconstruction of #Gaza goes slowly as 65,000 #Palestinian of 100,000 r still displaced after 2yrs of 2014 war pic.twitter.com/66uVVGxMLM
— CIR_Palestine (@CIR_Palestine) September 18, 2016
Maher Altabaa of Gaza’s Chamber of Commerce has revealed that 612 million dollars have been allocated for emergency work; 251 million dollars to the UNRWA, 89 million dollars for fuel, 386 million dollars for reconstruction, 253 for emergency relief work, and 299 million dollars to support the governmental budget.
Altabaa added that 1181 housing units have been rebuilt out of 11,000, which were destroyed during the 2014 offensive on Gaza, which amounts to only 10.7% of the total number of destroyed houses. Some 50% of the houses, which were partially destroyed, have not yet been rebuilt.
He asserted that only 16% of the Gaza Strip’s needs for reconstruction have been met.
UNRWA provides transitional shelter cash assistance to displaced refugee families in Gaza, but it's not enough https://t.co/OOaAUIEBju
— Abby Smardon (@abbysmardon) September 8, 2016
Altabaa added that 65,000 Palestinians out of 100,000, who were made homeless in 2014, are still displaced, and half of them might not get any financial support during the second half of 2016.
The report concluded that 160,000 children in Gaza are in need of constant psychological support.
(PC, HADAF News)
