Some 35 aid groups from around the world, including ActionAid and Oxfam, launch a joint call to end Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
“For a whole year the Israeli government has restricted basic and essential construction materials from entering Gaza,” says a statement signed by the NGOs and posted on the site of activist group Avaaz.
Last summer’s devastating war in Gaza caused mass casualties and destruction of homes. Israel attributes this to the practice of Gaza fighters of waging war from inside residential areas.
“Not one of the 19,000 homes that were bombed and destroyed has been fully rebuilt. One year on, around 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza are still homeless, hospitals and schools still lie in ruins, and whole neighborhoods have no access to running water.”
A Palestinian woman walks amid the rubble of buildings which were destroyed during the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in the summer of 2014, in the village of Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 1, 2015. (AFP/SAID KHATIB)
“Just five percent of the 6.7 million tons of steel bars, cement and aggregates needed to rebuild what was destroyed since the end of the war has been permitted to enter Gaza,” the statement says. “At this rate, it could take 17 years before Gaza is rebuilt.”
The NGOs acknowledges that Palestinian political parties had failed to reconcile and prioritize reconstruction, “and Egypt’s closure of its border has further limited supplies entering Gaza.” But they say Israel’s blockade was the main obstacle to reconstruction.
A petition launched by the NGOs has so far garnered more than 450,000 signatures from around the world.
— AFP
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
