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<h1 class="title">35,000 Palestinians in Gaza still displaced from
2014 war</h1>
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<div class="stamp">July 7, 2017 - <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777962">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777962</a></font><br>
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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) released
a statement on Friday that highlighted the continuous devastation
faced by residents of the besieged Gaza Strip three years after
Israel’s 2014 offensive, as thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have
remained displaced in the coastal enclave.<br>
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<div>The 51-day offensive in 2014 left more than 2,000
Palestinians dead, including at least 1,462 civilians, a third
of whom were children, according to the United Nations.<br>
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<div>“Of 11,000 homes totally destroyed during the war, a little
over one third have been rebuilt,” NRC noted, adding that many
of these families have continued to reside in tents since three
years ago. </div>
<div>NRC said that 8,135 of those homes have not yet been
reconstructed, and added that 160,000 additional homes were also
damaged during the war.<br>
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<div>Thaer al-Sheesh, a father of four in Gaza, told NRC that he
has spent three years in a tent as he has continued to wait for
his home to be rebuilt since the devastating war. “We are alive
now because death hasn’t bothered to take us yet. It will be way
better for us to die, as we won’t face problems anymore,” he
said.<br>
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<div>According to NRC, 6,300 Palestinian families -- 35,000
individuals -- in Gaza have remained displaced from the war.<br>
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<div>Meanwhile, reconstruction efforts have been painfully slow --
hindered by Israel's blockade, ongoing disputes with the
Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), and a severe
shortage of foreign assistance.<br>
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<div>According to NRC, halfway into the 2017 year, only 30 percent
of promised funding for reconstruction in Gaza has been covered,
leaving a deficit of $380 million.<br>
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<div>“Even if the necessary funding is made available immediately,
we are still looking at another year of construction before the
displaced families can return to their homes,” NRC’s Country
Director in Jerusalem Hanibal Abiy Worku said in the statement.<br>
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<div>The statement highlighted that humanitarian assistance has
been greatly affected by Israel's decade-long siege on the Gaza
Strip, especially owing to Israel's restrictions on building
materials, despite certain quantities of cement being allowed to
enter the small Palestinian territory since September 2014, when
UN’s Middle East envoy announced<a
href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49249#.WIOe6VN94dW"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> a UN
mechanism, referred to as the “Serry Plan,"</a> to assist with
reconstruction efforts.<br>
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<div>According to NRC, 46 percent of the amount of cement needed
for housing reconstruction in Gaza since 2014 is still needed.<br>
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<div>On top of tens of thousands of Palestinians still reeling
from the effects of the 2014 war, Israel has continued to keep
two million Palestinians under a military siege, while the Hamas
and Fatah rivalry has escalated in recent weeks and further
contributed to the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza
Strip.<br>
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<div>After Israel cut Gaza’s electricity supply <a
href="https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777763"
style="text-decoration-line: none;">by up to 60 percent</a>,
upon the request of the PA, <a
href="https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777784"
style="text-decoration-line: none;">Egypt stepped in to
provide fuel</a> in order to avert a full collapse in the
besieged territory.<br>
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<div>However, Gaza has continued to suffer from a serious power
shortage, only receiving a few hours of electricity a day, while
repressive PA policies, such as <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777805"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">cutting
their Gaza-based employees’ salaries</a>, <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777862"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">halting
medical referrals</a> to patients in Gaza to receive medical
treatment outside of the territory, and <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777644"
style="text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">cutting
its funding to Gaza’s medical sector</a> has further
contributed to hardships in Gaza.<br>
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<div>The PA has been the target of recent condemnation for
intentionally exacerbating the difficulties of life for everyday
residents in Gaza.<br>
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<div>“All parties are encouraged to overcome differences, with the
support of the international community,” NRC added in the
statement. “As an immediate measure of addressing humanitarian
needs, support should be provided for continuity of essential
services in the sectors of shelter, health, water and
sanitation.”<br>
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<div>The UN has warned that the Gaza Strip would become
uninhabitable for residents by 2020, pointing to the devastation
of war and the crippling effects of Israel's blockade, while<a
href="https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772131"
style="text-decoration-line: none;"> 80 percent of Gaza’s
population </a>have become dependent on humanitarian
assistance. </div>
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