Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
A senior official in the Gaza Strip says the total damage and loss from the latest Israeli aggression against the besieged enclave amounts to $479 million.
Naji Sarhan, undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza, made the remark in a press conference on Monday, adding that the government teams worked on recording damages according to policies approved by the World Bank.
He further explained that the total losses were distributed over three sectors; 61 percent of the damages were caused to the housing and infrastructure sector, 33 percent to the economic development sector and 7 percent to the social development sector.
Separately, Mohammed al-Emadi, chairman of the Qatari National Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, stressed that all parties should participate in the development and reconstruction projects based on the existing needs of the impoverished coastal territory.
“The biggest challenge required from the international community is to stop the repeated Israeli attacks on Gaza and provide adequate funding to enable its people to live a decent life in peace,” the chairman added.
He further thanked the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union for completing the initial rapid assessment report on the damages of the Israeli aggression against Gaza as well as its existing needs.
In the report, the committee published its vision for the reconstruction of Gaza which includes the full opening of the crossings, the entry of construction materials and the rejection of the reconstruction mechanism that was implemented after the Israeli attack in summer 2014.
Gaza has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since June 2007. The crippling siege has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the Gaza Strip.
