The Palestinian Authority unity government will begin reconstruction just as its citizens begin to face the freezing cold of winter.
A report published by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency noted that none of the rubble left from Israel’s counter terror Operation Protective Edge has yet been removed in Gaza. Private companies will not start that process until next month, PA Housing and Public Works Minister Mufid al-Hasayneh told Ma’an.
Companies will first “prepare the sites” to which rubble will be taken – one in Gaza City, the other in Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Meanwhile, PA is also expected to sign an agreement with the United Nations Development Program “to distribute $10 million to families whose homes were partially destroyed.”
According to the report, each family will receive between $1,000 to $2,000 to repair their homes. The money is to come from PA coffers, al-Hasayneh explained, since donations from international pledges have yet to arrive.
The United Nations and international donors have never offered financial compensation to the thousands of Israelis whose homes were damaged by rocket attacks from Gaza over the past 12 years.
The United States pledged $212 million to reconstruction in Gaza; the European Union is to donate 450 million euros, and Qatar has said it will send $1 billion. Donors pledged a total of more than $5 billion altogether to repair the damage caused by Hamas choosing to attack Israel from within civilian residential areas and from behind human shields.