Gaza 20 months after Cast Lead

EXCLUSIVE PICTURES

It has been over 20 months since Israel launched its brutal attack on Gaza, which saw over 1,400 civilians killed, many of whom were women and children.

Today, walking around within the Gaza Strip, you see the devastation that still remains – houses turned to rubble, wasted and barren farmland, basic infrastructure in total ruin. Residents such as Abed Rabbo in the northern Gaza Strip complain that the tents they currently reside in are inadequate, ‘we are tired of this way of life, we have received promises from the Arab countries that they will help re-construct Gaza, but as of yet, nothing has happened’.

---

UNRWA had promised to build ‘hundreds of homes’, but only around ten houses of mud have been built so far. This is largely due to the heavy restrictions on the amount and type of construction material, if any, that is allowed in by the Occupying Forces. The lack of building materials prevents Palestinians from rebuilding their war-torn and devastated lives, displacing thousands of families who still, 20 months later have no roofs over their heads and no source of viable income to improve the quality of life to the basic standards that are recognized internationally.

{phatfusionslideshowimages/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/1.jpg,images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/1t.jpg;images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/2.jpg,images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/2t.jpg;images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/3.jpg,images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/3t.jpg;images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/4.jpg,images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/4t.jpg;images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/5.jpg,images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/5t.jpg;images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/6.jpg,images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/6t.jpg;images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/7.jpg,images/image-gallery-slideshow/gaza-20-months-after-cast-lead/7t.jpg}

MEMO Photographer: Mohammed Asad