Japanese donation to reconstruct shelters in the Gaza Strip – UNRWA Press Release

Japanese donation to reconstruct 271 Shelters

in the Gaza Strip

The Director of UNRWA Operations, Gaza, Mr John Ging, today signed contracts with nine Gaza based construction companies valued at $5.7 million to reconstruct 271 shelters for Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking from Gaza, Mr Ging said “I thank the Government of Japan for its generous donation at a time when Palestine refugees are in such great need.”

“This $5.7 million donation is being put to immediate use to improve the living conditions of more than 1,800 refugees in camps throughout the Gaza Strip”, Ging added.

Construction will take 16 weeks to complete and will create approximately 100,000 workdays. Beneficiaries were selected from the Agency’s list of the poorest refugees who are living in severe hardship with no income or means of their own to reconstruct shelters which have been assessed as unsafe and unhealthy.

The Government of Japan is also funding a re-housing project in Khan Younis in the middle areas of the Gaza strip through a donation of US$13 million benefiting 2,645 refugees whose shelters had been demolished prior to the Israeli disengagement in autumn 2005. Construction of these new shelters is well underway and the project is on schedule for completion by the end of this year.

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