[News] 100,000 Gazans Still Homeless Since Summer Attack

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  United Nations: 100,000 Gazans Still Homeless Since Summer Attack

author Monday March 16, 2015
*http://www.imemc.org/article/70914*

    The official UN death-toll for the 2014 war shows that 1,549
    Palestinian civilians were killed in comparison to four Israelis,
    and 504 Palestinian children were killed for one Israeli child. 

PNN reports that, in the Gaza Strip, the seven weeks of hostilities 
between Palestinian armed groups and the Israeli military, during July 
and August 2014, resulted in an unprecedented level of loss and human 
suffering, which aggravated the already fragile situation 
<http://www.imemc.org/article/69506> that preceded the conflict.

A total of 1,549 Palestinian civilians, a third of them children, were 
killed and around 11,000 people were injured; 13 per cent of the housing 
stock was damaged or destroyed, including some 20,000 homes totally 
destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, leaving over 100,000 people 
displaced; unexploded ordnance spread over Gaza pose a serious threat to 
the life of Palestinians and humanitarian workers; and access to already 
insufficient basic services has been further undermined. Four Israeli 
civilians were killed during the hostilities and hundreds injured.

*Gaza remains in crisis, with most of the 100,000 made homeless by last 
year's war still homeless. The United Nations has had to suspend 
assistance to families made homeless by the war because of a $600 
million shortfall in promised donations.*

The ban on exports has no plausible justification on grounds of Israel's 
security. It leaves factories idle and most Gazans dependent on food aid.

The ban on import of construction materials causes huge hardship (most 
of the 100,000 made homeless by the war are still homeless).

The restrictions on humanitarian aid (running at half the pre-blockade 
levels) is another form of collective punishment.

It's true that some building materials can be used for military 
purposes, but this is a vicious circle. The more the Israelis attack 
Gaza, the more that Palestinians in Gaza want to be defended. The result 
can be that it strengthens rather than weakens support for Hamas.

In any case what is the alternative? The West Bank has been 
demilitarised for more than 10 years with the Palestine Authority police 
enforcing a strict ban on arms of all kinds, but what has been their 
reward? This has just eased the way to the Israelis stealing more land 
to build settlements, ransacking and demolishing homes, turning a blind 
eye to settler violence, putting peaceful demonstrators in jail and 
killing hundreds of Palestinians. The Gazans see what has happened in 
the West Bank and do not want to be defenceless.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation renounced violence nearly 30 years 
ago but their strategy of non-violence only makes sense if it is backed 
by international action to put pressure on Israel to end 
settlement-building and land theft and allow an independent Palestinian 
state within viable and secure borders. It is our failure to deliver our 
part of the bargain that is the trouble.

/*Read the Gaza debate in full Latest report from UN OCHA Latest appeal 
from UNRWA <http://www.ochaopt.org/poc3march-9march.aspx>*/

Israeli naval forces shot and killed a Palestinian fisherman who was 
fishing west of Gaza city, in unclear circumstances. On another 30 
occasions, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian boats sailing near 
the Israeli-imposed 6 nautical mile fishing limit, including one 
incident resulting in the injury to two fishermen and in damage to their 
boat, and another in the detention of six fishermen.

Two Palestinians were injured by explosive remnants of war (ERW) in 
Gaza, including a farmer northwest of Rafah city and a man in his house 
in Nuseirat Refugee Camp. Since the ceasefire of August 2014, 11 
Palestinians, including a child, were killed in ERW incidents, and 
another 42, including 16 children, were injured.

The Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah crossing in both directions 
for one day (9 March), allowing 361 Palestinians, mainly patients and 
students, to leave and 956 people to cross into Gaza. The crossing has 
been continuously closed since 24 October 2014, following an attack in 
Sinai, except for 12 days on which it was opened, but with restrictions.

*Funding Needs*

US$ 175 million has been pledged in support of UNRWA's emergency shelter 
programme, for which a total of US$ 720 million is required. This leaves 
a current shortfall of US$ 545 million. UNRWA urgently requires US$ 100 
million in the first quarter of 2015 to allow refugee families with 
minor damage to repair their homes and to provide ongoing rental subsidies.

As presented in UNRWA's oPt Emergency Appeal, for its 2015 emergency 
operations in Gaza, the Agency is seeking USD 366.6 million, including 
USD 127 million for emergency shelter, repair and collective centre 
management, USD 105.6 million for emergency food assistance, and USD 
68.6 million for emergency cash-for-work. More information:

*Crossings*

The Israeli blockade of Gaza entered its 8th year in June 2014 and 
continues to have a devastating effect as access to markets and people's 
movement to and from the Gaza Strip remain severely restricted. The 
economy and its capacity to create jobs has been devastated, with the 
majority of the population becoming dependent on humanitarian aid to 
meet basic needs. The number of Palestine refugees relying on UNRWA 
<http://www.imemc.org/newswire?search_text=unrwa&button=Search+%3E%3E> 
for food aid has increased from fewer than 80,000 in 2000 to almost 
868,000 today.

*Gaza: Facts and Figures*

1.26 million refugees out of 1.76 million total population

8 refugee camps

Almost 12,500 staff

252 schools for almost 240,000 students

21 health centres

16 relief and social services offices

12 food distribution centres for almost 868,000 refugees

Living under a tightened land and sea blockade since 2007

Shattered local economy

Long standing restrictions on movement of people and goods has led to a 
de-development of Gaza

Potentially unliveable place by 2020.
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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