The 50-year-old citizen, Suhail Al-Husseini, complains that he has received a housing rental allowance once since his house was destroyed in May 2021, which contradicts the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) pledge to pay rent allowance to refugees whose homes were destroyed during the recent Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Al-Husseini also complains about the high rent value, which doubles the burden on his family, who have been moving from one house to another since the end of the aggression, without a real horizon for the imminent reconstruction, he says.

He points out that his neighbors who are also residents of destroyed buildings; some of them received rent allowance for several months, in reference to the unequal opportunities for those affected to obtain rent.

Despite the last year since the last aggression, the suffering of destroyed homes owners is exacerbated amid the controversy of assigning responsibility between the government in the Gaza Strip and UNRWA, as the latter says that the reconstruction is proceeding at an accelerated pace, while the Ministry of Public Works and Housing estimates the progress rates in this file at "12%".

Amid growing criticism, Om refaat mansor a 66 years old woman was complaining about the separation crisis in her family caused by the Israeli aggression .Where her four sons are being apart as well as her grandchildren scattered in separate apartments, as a consequence to the destruction caused by the occupation warplanes which destroyed family's multi-storey building in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Hence, Ms. Mansour, who suffers from difficult health conditions, asks the appropriate authorities for family reunification by accelerate the rebuilding dwelling, which is still a pile of rubble. In addition, only one son who works and can pay for the rent. On the other hand, others cannot pay because of low income.

"We did not receive any compensation concerning our house reconstruction. There is always a delay and postponement. Regarding the compensation it is about the area and the costs of inside house preparation is not included", she added.

It's clear that the owners of the destroyed houses, which reached 1650 dwellings, are being pursued by a  monster called “the rent”, or at least this is how Naji Nasir (36 years old) described it, and who has been moving for a whole year, from one apartment to another in search of a rent value. Discounted, given that he does not have the ability to pay the rent.

Nasir's house was bombed at night on the heads of its residents, he, his wife, and four children sustained various injuries and fractures. The man points out that the government agencies have classified his house as unfit for habitation. However, he says that he has not received any financial compensation or house rent allowance also his house has not removed yet.

In light of the foregoing, the Israeli aggression on Gaza left material losses with total losses reaching to 420 million dollars. Besides, the totally destroyed house units' .More than 60 thousand house units were partially destroyed. In addition to infrastructure, economic, agricultural, educational and health facilities, according to the ministry's media agency in Gaza.

These estimates are different from the figures provided by UNRWA. UNRWA's media advisor, Adnan Abu Hasna, stated that his Agency had rebuilt around 7,100 partially damaged houses, classified as partially destructive, Medium and Major Damage.

 

Regarding rents payment for their destroyed homes, Abu Hasna stated that the rents will be paid for four months to about 613 families during the upcoming period, considering that there is progress in the file of destroyed homes.

UNRWA's advisor is not in consistent with Naji Sarhan, the   Palestinian undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza, who indicates that UNRWA has recently intervened in the file of refugee homes reconstruction and the process of completing repairs to their damaged homes is at a slow pace. 

Sarhan said to "last story" that what has actually been accomplished on the ground does not exceed 12% of what was destroyed by the occupation, noting that UNRWA excludes from the reconstruction process the refugees who used to live in multi-storey buildings.

According to rent issue that burdens the citizens whose homes were destroyed, Sarhan stated that UNRWA provided funds to the refugees instead of renting for a limited period, and then stopped that, indicating at the same time that there is no fund for the damage that befell the residential buildings and multi-storey buildings.

Obviously ,the previous statements affected residents of the demolished buildings, whereas the construction has concentrated on buildings.Nevertheless, no one gave attention to residents' suffering from the distruction, said Lubna Al-Lbabidi (35 years), who has lost her family’s apartment in Al-Jalaa Tower in the center of Gaza City, which consists of 11 floors and includes 60 apartments between commercial and residential.

Al-Lbabidi indicated that they had promises about buildings' reconstruction that it would be carried out by Qatari authorities, while the data on the ground did not indicate that the displacement crisis was nearing an end.

Meanwhile, Qatar has started construction of 200 housing units, in addition to the restoration of 11 residential buildings that were partially damaged. It is also repair a number of destroyed street intersections with a pledge to continue the reconstruction process, Sarhan said.

"The reconstruction process includes regional stability. Moreover, donors should invest in effort to sustain the peace process, as it'll create hope for citizens", Sarhan concluded.