'Gaza rehabilitation begins,' housing minister announces one year after war

"We will not abandon the citizens and we will not shirk our responsibility," Mufeed al-Hasayneh says at ceremony in Gaza.

By YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA
Updated: JULY 22, 2015 20:03
PALESTINIANS SIT in a damaged house as they watch a parade celebrating Hamas’s ‘victory’ over Israel, in the Shejaia neighborhood, Gaza (photo credit: REUTERS)
PALESTINIANS SIT in a damaged house as they watch a parade celebrating Hamas’s ‘victory’ over Israel, in the Shejaia neighborhood, Gaza
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Infrastructure and Housing Minister in the Gaza Strip Mufeed al-Hasayneh said on Wednesday that the process has begun to rebuild the houses destroyed in last summer's war. 
"We are announcing the beginning of the rehabilitation for the entire Gaza Strip," the minister said at a cornerstone laying ceremony at the rebuilding site of the Harara family home in the Sajahiya neighborhood on Wednesday.
"The process of rebuilding has started and it will not stop. In the coming days there will be a lot of activity of building homes that were destroyed last year by the Israeli aggression," the minister said.  
Al-Hasayne said the government planned to rebuild all the homes destroyed in Operation Protective Edge.
"We will not abandon the citizens and we will not shirk our responsibility. Engineers and other technical officials are working around the clock to provide service to all," he said.
Al-Hasayneh thanked Saudia Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, and Malaysia for their support of the rebuilding projects in the coastal territory.
Palestinian estimates put the number of homes that were completely or partially destroyed in last year's war at 18,000. The war lasted 51 days and claimed the lives of 2,200 Palestinians who were mostly civilians. Seventy-three Israelis died during the war, mainly soldiers.