- Hundreds of Gaza families face winter in tents
- U.N. urges Israel to let in goods
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Palestinian families in Gaza whose homes were destroyed almost a year ago during an Israeli military offensive may have to spend another winter in tents, a U.N. official said on Monday.
"It is a very difficult problem -- the coming of winter and the rains. We are very concerned," Maxwell Gaylard, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, told Reuters in an interview. With the supply of cement, steel and other raw materials restricted by a blockade, little has been rebuilt in Gaza since the three-week war which Israel said aimed to halt rocket fire by militants from the coastal enclave.
Israel, which imposes the blockade with the cooperation of Egypt, restricts the entry of materials it says could be used for military purposes by Hamas, the Islamist group which seized control of Gaza in 2007.
"We know that there are hundreds of families still living in tents. We know that there are more than that living in the ruins of their own homes and we know that there are even more than that who are with relatives and friends," Gaylard said.
"They need materials to repair their houses. They need fuel to be able to keep warm during the winter. They need good water and sanitation systems."
The United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency, which runs nearly 200 schools in Gaza, and Gaza's Education Ministry say that thousands of pupils also face a dark and cold winter at schools that have yet to be repaired.
The United Nations says Israel's military offensive destroyed 3,535 homes and severely damaged 2,854. A further 52,900 homes suffered minor damage.
Gaylard said the United Nations would continue to press Israel to fully open crossings with Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
Israel had been told that the United Nations could account for materials allowed into Gaza for its own projects. Gaylard urged Israel to let in materials that would at least allow the United Nations to complete projects it had already started, the value of which he estimated at $80 million-$100 million.
"We are saying not only to the authorities in Israel but the authorities here in Gaza we can finish those projects. We can account for all the materials that can go into those projects," he said.
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