UN funds mud-brick houses for Gaza to circumvent blockade
Israel won’t allow concrete and other construction materials into blockaded Gaza. This raises problems for the many Palestinians made homeless there in the wake of Operation Cast Lead. Israel says raw materials could be seized by Hamas to make weapons or fortify their military structures, but doesn’t take away the urgent need for housing.
U.N. aid officials are back to ancient building techniques as a result. The U.N. hopes to build around 120 mud brick homes for dozens of Gaza families in the next few months. While this is not a long term solution to the problem it is a better option for those families than surviving in tents, partially demolished buildings, or relying on the hospitality of family or friends in already overcrowded accommodations.
The U.N. hopes to build around 120 mud brick homes for dozens of Gaza families in the next few months, said John Ging, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza. Each house costs about $10,000 and takes three months to build.
Thousands of Gazans were made homeless during Israel’s three-week military assault on the Hamas-ruled territory a year ago…Some 1,000 Gazans still live in tents, Ging said.
“A mud hut is still better than a tent,” said Ging. “It’s not a solution to the reconstruction of Gaza but it shows you how desperate the situation is, that a year later, people living in tents have the hopeful prospect of getting a temporary mud brick shelter,” he said.
Israel says raw materials could be seized by Hamas to make weapons or fortify their military structures. Senior U.N. officials say they have repeatedly offered guarantees that the material will be used in reconstruction.
Gaza police have rebuilt at least one of their stations out of mud, and several residents throughout the territory have also used mud to build simple homes.
The first house was given to Majid Athamneh, an elderly man who lost the apartment building where he and his children lived during the war in the border area of Izbet Abed Rabo. His new mud house looks out on the ruins of his former home.
