GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Housing and Public Works Ministry says the rebuilding of homes in the Gaza Strip has begun, more than a year after last summer’s war broke out.
The ministry said construction began Wednesday on a home in the hard-hit Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City that was flattened during the war.
An estimated 18,000 homes throughout Gaza were destroyed during the 50-day war, which the United Nations says displaced 110,000 people. Reconstruction efforts have been slow, hampered by unmet international funding promises and a rift within the Palestinian leadership. Israel allows trucks carrying construction materials into the Gaza Strip under strict security measures.
The first house being rebuilt is part of a Qatari-funded project that will see 1,000 housing units reconstructed.
