Reconstruction of houses in the Gaza Strip remains difficult because of the continuing blockade of the enclave by the Israeli government and the inability to import building materials, said an official representative of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Christopher Gunnes.
"About 58,000 houses were damaged and destroyed in Gaza and we can not rebuild because we can not get the building materials into Gaza, Gunnes told Trend by telephone. It is impossible to do any building work".
During the Israeli operation "Cast lead" in Gaza, most of the administrative units, including homes and schools, were destroyed.
At the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in March the international mediating countries agreed to promptly rebuild the enclave
According Gunnes, UNRWA has repeatedly officially appealed to the Israeli government to stop the blockade of the Gaza Strip and to allow the importation of building materials, and this issue was also raised at the UN headquarters in New York.
"We said all time and we are going continue to say both in New York and elsewhere that the blockade must be lifted. We are raising it in New York and in all levels of the Israeli government," Gunnes said.
According to the UN official, the blockade of Gaza is a violation of the rights of 1.5 million people, the population of the enclave, so it must be lifted up immediately.
"We can get basic food and water supplies, but nothing more," he said.
While writing this article, it was failure to get any comment on the Israeli government's position.
Israel has been maintaining the blockade of Gaza for more than two years in response to rocket attacks of Palestinian Hamas movement across southern Israel