“Charting a new course: overcoming the stalemate in Gaza” – Briefing Paper –
Six months after the Cairo International Conference on Palestine and Reconstructing Gaza following massive destruction caused by the conflict in summer 2014, AIDA[1], the Association of International Development Agencies, is publishing its report “Charting a New Course: Overcoming the Stalemate in Gaza” in which it puts forward concrete recommendations to speed up reconstruction.
The report sets out devastating facts regarding the situation in Gaza: more than 2,100 people killed and 11,000 injured, including several hundred people now disabled for life.
More than 19,000 homes have been destroyed or made uninhabitable and almost 30,000 damaged. A total of 100,000 displaced people, including 1,700 families housed in collective centres, have been recorded. Some 14,000 other families now live in a precarious situation, housed in temporary accommodation.
Despite the ceasefire established in August 2014, civilians continue to be the target of violence. More than 400 instances of Israeli fire directed at the Gaza Strip have been recorded to date and at least four rocket attacks have been launched on Israel from Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, only 26.8% of funds intended for reconstruction have been released. And although some reconstruction projects in Gaza have been funded, they have not yet started due to the Gaza Strip blockade.
As well as making these financial commitments (3.4 billion dollars in direct and indirect aid), the international community undertook to lobby for a permanent ceasefire and to begin discussing the parties’ responsibility for continuing violations of international law.
To find long-term solutions that will end this crisis and to enable the reconstruction of Gaza, AIDA demands that the international community fulfil its commitments, calling on it:
• To speed up reconstruction and facilitate the entry of essential materials into Gaza in line with international law.
• To ensure that all parties are held responsible for violations of international law.
• To put an end to the blockade and rehabilitate Gaza’s devastated economy which supports 1.8 million Palestinians living separated from the West Bank in Gaza.