Situation Overview

Pre Cast Lead Figures

Despite the 2010 Israeli announced easing of Damage
restrictions on imports and exports into the strip, Status Number
Type
many materials essential to construction, such as Total Case Load 2,900

Destroyed
Totally
gravel, cement and steel bars, remain on Israel’s list Completed 1,827
of ‘dual use’ goods, and thus remain heavily In Progress1 733
restricted. These items can therefore only officially Pending2 340
enter Gaza as part of international projects. However,
Cast Lead Figures
bureaucratic procedures and limited capacity of the
Damage
SHELTER ADVOCACY FACT SHEET 5

official crossings have made import of these goods for Status Number
Type
international projects expensive and time-consuming. Total Case Load 3,481

Destroyed
Totally
The blockade has also decimated the private Completed 1,700
construction industry in Gaza, formerly the backbone In Progress 500
of its economy and a major employer for estimated Pending 1,281
75,000 – 120,000 jobs. November 2012 escalation
As a result, most construction items now enter Gaza Totally Destroyed 184
unofficially through the tunnels at the border with Major Damage 198
Egypt. The Palestinian Federation of Industries Minor Repair 10,000
estimate that approximately 2.25 million tonnes of
aggregate, cement and steel bars entered Gaza in
2011 through the tunnels, while only 600,000 tonnes Number of
currently Number of
of the same goods entered for authorized projects Case Load
displaced individuals
through official crossings with Israel. Since the last families
week of 2012, Israel started allowing 20 trucks a day Pre Cast Lead 340 2,108
of aggregate through official crossings for the private Cast Lead 1,281 8,056
construction sector. Overcrowding and natural November Escalation 382 2,439
population growth in the Gaza strip has resulted in a Total 2,003 12,603
need for 71,0003 extra housing units to meet current
Note: All displaced families as a result from totally destroyed or major damage
needs. Based on this, the current increase in trucks houses.
can not address the gap, with a shortfall of
approximately 4,000 tonnes/day if all materials came
through official crossings.
Data source: Shelter Sector Gaza –
The new influx also does not include cement or steel Unified Shelter Sector Database (USSD)
and does not address the requirements of http://www.sheltergaza.org
international humanitarian projects for the most
Shelter Sector Lead, NRC
vulnerable, particularly female headed households, [email protected]
families with members with severe disabilities and
financial hardship cases.

March 2013

1
For all categories ‘In Progress’ is defined as the case load which has received funding and has secured access to
construction materials, but reconstruction has not yet been completed.
2
For all categories ‘Pending’ is defined as the case load which has either not received funding or secured access to
construction materials. No reconstruction is taking place.
3
Shelter Sector – Gaza , Assessing Housing Needs in Gaza June 2007 – December 2011

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 November 2012 escalation

After months of escalating hostilities on both sides, on 14 November 2012, the Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike
that targeted and killed the acting chief of Hamas’ armed wing Ahmed Al Jabari, which marked the start of the Israeli
military operation “Operation Defensive Pillar”. The escalation lasted eight days and resulted in the deaths of 101
Palestinian and 4 Israeli civilians4.
Three hundred and eighty two housing units in Gaza were destroyed or sustained major damage, while another
estimated 10,000 houses sustained minor damage. Two hundred and eighty six schools sustained damage; 26 with
major damage. One hundred and seven of these buildings had been damaged during Cast Lead and subsequently
repaired.
During the November escalation more than 15,000 individuals in the Gaza strip fled their homes, with approximately
12,000 seeking refuge in emergency shelters set up in 14 UNRWA and two government schools.
Following continued diplomatic efforts, a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was signed on 21
November 2012. Following the declaration most displaced families returned home, but 2,439 people living in rented
accommodations or housed with relatives.
The 382 families whose homes were totally or majorly damaged received quick cash assistance grants from shelter
sector members for rent and emergency supplies.
The November escalation has only compounded an existing chronic housing crisis with previous shelter damage still
unaddressed due to Israel’s restrictions on essential building materials.

Access Restricted Areas

As part of the 1994 Gaza-Jericho Agreement and the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza, also known as
the 1995 Oslo II Agreement, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation agreed to a delimiting line within the
Gaza Strip which would create a security perimeter. This Access Restricted Area (ARA) was determined to be a ‘No-
Go’ security perimeter, 50 meters from the Security fence between Gaza and Israel. After the 2000 second Intifada,
Israel increased this to 150 meters and, in 2010, Israel announced a 300-meter range (from the fence) as a new
restricted area where access is totally prohibited and enforced through use of deadly force. In practice Israel has
enforced this up to 1500 meters from the security fence through live fire, land levelling and property destruction.
Many of the houses destroyed during and after Operation Cast Lead are located within this ARA and therefore, even
with availability of materials, cannot be rebuilt due to safety and security considerations for both the owners and
humanitarian agencies wishing to offer assistance. Furthermore, COGAT has not approved international
humanitarian projects for any agency wishing to build housing projects proximate to ARA.
UNRWA and some smaller agencies provide occasional assistance to households suffering new/recent damages as a
result of Israeli or militant activities in the ARA. This is normally in the form of Non Food Items or alternative shelter
assistance outside of the ARA.
In February 2012, NRC completed a telephone survey contacting all refugee and non-refugee households with
shelters totally demolished during ‘Operation Cast Lead,’ (approximately 2,700 families out of the target 3,481
responded). The information collected included data about the person’s demolished shelter and their current place
of residence, current source of income, vulnerability, disability and status of ownership. The survey revealed new
data previously unknown as to the number of shelter units in the ARA. The main findings were:
 319 (12%) of ‘Cast Lead’ totally demolished shelters were located in the ARA. Consequently, these
families are facing long term displacement problems with no reconstruction possibilities in the near
future.
 Out of the 12% of the population whose demolished shelters were located in the ARA, about 61% were
located in the 501-1000m range from the fence. Another 23% of shelters were located in the 301-500m
range. The other 16% were located in the 51-300m range.

4
OHCHR - Gaza Protection Cluster
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Self Help approach in Gaza

Plans to reconstruct housing damaged or demolished as a result of the conflict remain largely stagnant as a result
of lack of access to raw building materials. In response shelter providers in the Gaza strip have utilised an owner-
driven approach to reconstruction, referred to as a “Self-Help Approach.” Through this approach agencies have
given beneficiaries conditional financial assistance and technical support to facilitate homeowners’ ability to re-
build their houses themselves. Projects funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and others led by the
Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) have led the way in completing the majority of the Cast Lead case
load in this way, starting at the beginning of 2009.

The IDB, in its capacity as Coordinator for the Program of the Gulf Cooperation Council for the Reconstruction of
Gaza, initiated a reconstruction process that was dependent on the Self-Help Approach (Owner-Driven
Reconstruction). The IDB gave beneficiaries conditional financial assistance through staggered payments equal to
the reconstruction cost (US$260-US$300/sq meter), accompanied by regulations and technical support aimed at
ensuring that houses were built back better. This initiative addressed some significant major housing needs, using
materials available in the local market sourced from the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.

The advantages of the “Self-Help Approach” have been assessed to be:

 It mobilizes households to take an active role in rebuilding, which speeds recovery from war trauma and
decreases social dependency;
 It tends to involve the local building industry, which contributes to the restoration of the local economy
and livelihoods;
 It leads to the higher beneficiary’s satisfaction.
 It is more cost effective.

My Name is Nafez al Souriki,

I’m an engineer in Gaza municipality; I live in Tal
al Hawa neighborhood.
In January 2009 the Israeli forces demolished our
house in an airstrike, our house was totally
destroyed, and we did not know why our house
was attacked. That was a very sad and hard day
for us, losing the house that I worked 25 years to
build, our dream house.

Nafez al Sourki – Tal al Hawa - Gaza City

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The hardest thing was having your own house, where Recommendations
you feel safe and protected, and waking up the next
day to find it gone, all the furniture, the clothes and
the kids’ books. 1. Israel should lift restrictions on
At the beginning we lived for one month with my commercial import and export of goods,
wife’s family, after that we rented a small apartment, including relating to international
and started buying furniture slowly. We faced financial humanitarian construction projects.
troubles, it was hard to manage with my salary to pay 2. COGAT should work towards completely
ending the approvals process for
US$300 for the rent and buy the electronics and
construction materials for humanitarian
furniture, UNRWA helped us with a monthly rental agencies by January 2014. As interim
cash assistance of US$100. measure COGAT should streamline
When we used to go to UNRWA and ask about aid, simplify and reduce the approval
they replied us that there were no construction coordination, monitoring and reporting
materials due to the blockade. requirements for international
We stayed in the first rented apartment for one year. humanitarian projects in the Gaza Strip.
3. Israel should guarantee security for
Then the owner asked us to move because he needed
humanitarian workers reconstructing in
the apartment. We found another apartment in a new ARA.
neighborhood, but it was far from the kids’ school. We 4. The international community should
lived there for a while and then decided to move again press Israel to end the approvals process
to be closer to the school. for construction materials for
UNRWA suggested building us a house made of mud, humanitarian agencies.
5. The international community should
we agreed because we knew there are no construction
support and fund projects that utilize self-
materials and we wanted to have a solution. But when help as the preferred model for delivering
we received the plan I found out that the house will be assistance in the Gaza Strip.
very small, so I dropped the offer.
After three years of continuous suffering I heard about
the Islamic Development Bank program5, which was
going to build 200 houses. I was lucky that I registered
early. When I was selected I knew that the plan is to
give the family money in 4 stages, (40%, 30%, 20% and
10%) and we could build our house the way we want.
I was so happy about the project, all I wanted was to
have the chance to rebuild my house the way it was.
This is not a temporary house; this is the house that I
want to raise my kids in.

5
UNRWA project funded by IDB.

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