UN says Gaza reconstruction has begun

Palestinian estimates say as much as $6 billion required to repair damage sustained in the conflict

The United Nations says that a program to reconstruct the Gaza Strip after this summer’s 50-day war with Israel has begun.

Middle East peace process coordinator Robert Serry said Tuesday night that the program started Monday with the sale of construction materials to 700 Gaza residents whose homes were damaged.

Palestinian estimates say that as much as $6 billion will be required to repair the damage sustained during the conflict. Serry said some 60,000 Gaza residences need to be repaired immediately.

Last week senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar criticized Israel for allegedly delaying the entry of construction materials into Gaza and warned that if the rehabilitation process in the Palestinian enclave does not speed up and become more efficient, the situation in the Strip may “erupt.”

According to al-Zahar, a hardliner and former foreign minister in the government of Ismail Haniyeh, construction materials were only brought into Gaza on one occasion, during UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to the area earlier this month, Israel Radio reported. Al-Zahar also claimed that even the materials which had entered the Strip had not yet been distributed to building sites across the coastal enclave.

Since the conclusion of the IDF operation in the Strip aimed at rooting out Hamas terror tunnels and halting rocket fire at Israeli territory, Israel has delivered about 400 tons of cement in a single shipment to Gaza . According to sources in the Strip, the operation left some 100,000 homes either destroyed or badly damaged.

UN officials have said the holdup in the transfer of materials to the Strip was mostly technical, adding that more deliveries would come through once the Palestinian government has vetted Gaza importers of construction material and potential buyers.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.