A human rights center reviews the human tragedy of their homes destroyed by the recent aggression

A human rights center reviews the human tragedy of their homes destroyed by the recent aggression

• 2021-11-18 18:20:40
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Today, Wednesday, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights issued a new report titled “House Destruction During the War in the Gaza Strip, May 2021”, which deals with the human tragedy of thousands of citizens whose homes were destroyed, the majority of whom currently live in Temporary housing due to the failure to initiate reconstruction, despite the passage of six months since the end of the aggression.

The report reviewed the policy of the occupation forces that were followed during the comprehensive war on the Gaza Strip, through which they deliberately destroyed thousands of homes, including a number of residential homes that were destroyed on the heads of their residents, providing statistics on the number of homes destroyed during the aggression.

According to the documentation of human rights organizations, the aggression led to the destruction of (7680) housing units, of which (1313) housing units were completely destroyed, and (6367) housing units sustained significant partial damage.

He added, "The number of destroyed housing units, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, reached (57,186) housing units, of which (1514) housing units were completely destroyed, and (880) housing units were destroyed in a severely uninhabitable manner, and (54792) housing units were damaged. partial damage.”

According to the report, the reason for the discrepancy in the number of destroyed houses between the Ministry of Housing and human rights institutions is due to the different classification criteria, and to the inclusion of the statistics of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing for very limited housing units (such as broken windows) within the damaged housing units.

The report emphasized that the recent aggression exacerbated the housing sector crisis, resulting from the blockade and the deterioration of economic conditions, as the housing sector mainly suffers from a deficit of 100,000 housing units, as a result of the continuous siege for more than 15 years, and it has been greatly affected by the consequences of the Israeli attacks and rounds of escalation consecutive and repetitive.

He pointed out that the housing sector is one of the sectors that received the largest part of the previous financing and reconstruction programs, but that 1,300 housing units were still completely demolished and not reconstructed.

In terms of partial damages, there are 75,000 partially damaged housing units, and the necessary funding has not been available to date to complete the repair of their damage, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing.

The report also reviewed the challenges and obstacles facing the reconstruction of destroyed housing during the 2021 aggression, as the delay in the reconstruction of these homes is due to two main reasons: Israeli restrictions on the supply of construction materials to the Gaza Strip, and the non-disbursement of international grant funds allocated for the reconstruction of Gaza to date.

He stressed that the continued suffering of the residents and their denial of return to their homes is a flagrant violation of their right to enjoy adequate shelter, adding that “Israel’s destruction of the homes of citizens in the Gaza Strip is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits the occupying power from demolishing the homes of citizens in the Gaza Strip. The property of citizens residing in the occupied area.

In the report’s recommendations, the center called for the immediate start of reconstruction to alleviate the suffering of citizens, especially the owners of completely destroyed homes, calling on donor countries to fulfill their financial obligations that they pledged to provide immediately after the end of the aggression, in order to start the reconstruction process.

PCHR also called on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to take practical steps to compel the Israeli occupation authorities to lift all forms of siege and open all crossings, in order to speed up the reconstruction of what was destroyed by the occupation during the recent war aggression.