$200m deficit in budget to rebuild destroyed homes in Gaza

Palestinian MP Jamal Al-Khodari revealed yesterday that there is a $200 million deficit in the budget for the reconstruction of homes destroyed during the Israeli offensive on Gaza in 2014, Quds Press reported.

In a press release, Al-Khodari said that many regional donors have not fulfilled pledges they gave five years ago, following the devastating Israeli offensive.

Al-Khodari called for the donors to meet their commitments regarding the rebuilding of destroyed homes, considering this an “ethical, humanitarian and legal” commitment.

Meanwhile, he stressed on the importance of lifting the 13-year-old Israeli siege, which paralysed all aspects of life in Gaza, which suffers from a severe lack of residential units to meet the needs of its population.

READ: Gaza’s only pharmaceutical factory operates at just 20% capacity

He stressed that the Israeli siege on Gaza is illegal and breaches all international laws and conventions, including the Geneva Conventions and the International Declaration of Human Rights.

The Gaza Strip has suffered as a result of the siege which has been imposed by Israel, with support from Egypt and the international community. Goods, food, aid, construction materials and other essentials have not been allowed into the Strip and people have been left unable to leave even to access medical care.

The General Federation of Palestinian Labour Unions reported last year that as a result of the siege, unemployment in the enclave almost doubled to 50 per cent, rising from 27.2 per cent before 2007.

Due to the ban on the entry of fuel, Gaza’s sole electricity plant has been forced to shut down leaving civilians with only 4 hours of electricity a day; further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

A report released by the UN last month raised concerns that the Strip is “de-developing” faster than anticipated, such that the 2020 deadline by which it was said that Gaza would be “unliveable” may have already arrived.

READ: 25,000 inhabited homes need urgent reconstruction in Gaza