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UN agency gives homes to Palestinians whose houses were destroyed by Israel

UN agency gives homes to Palestinians whose houses were destroyed by Israel

The main United Nations relief agency assisting Palestinian refugees today handed over 19 new homes to refugee families in the Gaza Strip whose shelters had been destroyed by Israeli military forces.

The new shelters, which will house 20 families, or 129 refugees, in the Middle Camps area, are the concrete expression of the pledge by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to re-house all those refugees whose homes had been destroyed in the strife and who have no alternative accommodation.

By 31 May, a total of 1,134 shelters, home to more than 10,049 refugee and non-refugee Palestinians, had been destroyed or damaged beyond repair in the Gaza Strip since the start of the conflict in September 2000, according to UNRWA figures.

The agency has already provided homeless families waiting for their new homes with emergency assistance in the form of tents, blankets, mats, kitchen utensils and food parcels. The construction project itself has also served to alleviate some of the hardships felt in the Gaza Strip, where unemployment is exceptionally high, by providing around 10,000 man-days of temporary employment for labourers, builders, and tradesmen.

The shelters opened today in Deir El-Balah were funded by donations from the Arab Popular Committee in the Syrian Arab Republic and by non-earmarked contributions to the emergency appeals. The total cost of the project, including infrastructure work, was approximately $455,000.