Gaza's housing crisis: residents protest UNRWA failure to rebuild their destroyed homes

Wafa– Dozens of Rafah and Khan Younis residents in the south of the Gaza Strip Saturday blocked summer activities held by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in protest against the latter’s failure to rebuild their homes destroyed by the 2008-2009 Israeli military onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army destroyed over 90,000 houses and displaced almost 20,000 Palestinians in its war, which lasted for 21 days, on the Gaza Strip and which started late in December 2008, according to local statistics.

Representatives of the families said UNRWA had promised to rebuild their homes but had not yet, forcing them to continue living in dismal and very difficult conditions.

UNRWA said it was not able to rebuild the homes because of the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2006, when Hamas formed its first ever Palestinian government following its victory in legislative elections.

While the Israeli military onslaught had augmented Gaza’s housing crisis, the tight Israeli blockade that prevents entry of the most basic building material had also played a major role.

Osama al-Saadawi, director general of the Palestinian Housing Council in Gaza, said the Gaza Strip needs more than 65,000 residential units to face the continuous population growth and to house the huge number of Palestinians who lost their homes in the Israeli war on Gaza.

He told WAFA that “85,502 houses were damaged during the Israeli war on Gaza, 3584 houses were severely damaged, whereas 4455 were completely destroyed, which caused the displacement of 19,440 Palestinians.”

According to Osama Kuhail, head of the contractors union, it is important to reconstruct Gaza based on a comprehensive development plan. He said “Gaza’s losses were estimated at more than $1 billion due to the Israeli assault.”

He said that “despite of the massive destruction in Gaza, Israel was still prohibiting import of cement and iron for construction needs.”

Palestinians whose houses were destroyed by the Israeli onslaught live now in either rented apartments or tents under very bad humanitarian conditions.

Kuhail said that “all development and construction projects were temporarily put on hold due to lack of essential materials.”

Manufacturing industries and over 3500 Palestinian workers were also affected by the Israeli brutal policies in Gaza.

Saadawi said that reconstruction costs are very high and there is small international support for the housing sector.

Both Saadawi and Kuhail said the Palestinian contractor should be given priority in carrying out local construction projects and not to allow foreign companies to take the work of local contractors.

Kuhail stressed the importance of opening all crossings to Gaza, including Rafah crossing with Egypt, to import the needed material to reconstruct the coastal Strip.