ISAIAH 17 FULL FILLED 18,000 homes destroyed in Gaza, tens of thousands lack facilities to go back home’ – UN

 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation

 GAZA

18,000 homes destroyed in Gaza, tens of thousands lack facilities to go back home’ – UN

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Published time: September 06, 2014 06:44

A Palestinian man looks out of his heavily damaged house at neighbouring houses which witnesses said were destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in the east of Gaza City September 3, 2014 (Reuters / Suhaib Salem)

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The damage caused by the Israeli military operation in Gaza makes it impossible for thousands of people to return home, despite the ceasefire, due to lack of services, water and electricity, Ramesh Rajasingham of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA told RT.
The UN has released a new report stating that the number of people displaced in Gaza is still rising, despite a truce put in place after a full-scale operation by Israel against Hamas that claimed the lives of 2,210 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and over 70 Israelis.

The UN report notes that there was a significant drop in the number of displaced Palestinians at the end of August, down to 53,000, but the situation changed at the beginning of this month, with more Palestinian refugees flooding into UN shelters, sending the figure up to 58,217.

RT spoke with the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in Palestinian Territories, Ramesh Rajasingham, for an analysis of the situation.

RT: The latest figures show an increase of displaced Palestinians despite the existing ceasefire. Why is that?

Ramesh Rajasingham: We have about 110,000 Palestinians displaced now. They are either in schools run by the UN organization UNRWA or they are staying with other families, who actually have their homes. There are many reasons for this. We have about 18,000 homes, which are either fully destroyed, or irreparably destroyed. So 18,000 homes means 18,000 families without a home today. But these figures have also been added to by those who’ve gone back to their homes and they’ve seen that they have no services, no electricity, no water – primarily due to destruction during the conflict. They have also not been able to access services. They don’t have adequate supplies, etc. In many ways, what they can get in the shelters is better than what they can get at home. They can perhaps have access to water in the shelters.
The humanitarian organizations have been helping these families in these shelters as well as the families that are hosting them with emergency water, hygiene kits, and food. Almost the entire population of Gaza is receiving food assistance through the main organizations UNRWA and the World Food Programme. So the level of destruction and devastation in the Gaza Strip has made it impossible for some of these families to return home. Even though they possibly do have a roof over their head, they can’t actually live there with any decent amount of services.

Palestinians sit atop the ruins of their house which witnesses said was destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in the east of Gaza City September 3, 2014 (Reuters / Suhaib Salem)

RT: This military operation has seen an unprecedented level of destruction for Gaza and a huge number of civilian losses from both sides. Is there any way for Israel to justify that?

RR: We are looking primarily at the humanitarian impact of the conflict. In fact, now that you have a ceasefire and those who can return home have returned home is absolutely an imperative, a must, and is a very positive development. Even before the conflict Gaza was suffering tremendously from the blockade. It was very difficult to get building materials in, difficult to get equipment in, and spare parts – in what we called a de-development situation. So on top of that the conflict just further aggravated the situation and brought a terrible humanitarian crisis for almost the entire population. We’ve had 118 schools damaged, of them 22 have been entirely destroyed. Now this comes on top of the situation where Gaza required 200 schools. So in many cases children will be worse off in terms of education. We had 50 healthcare centers damaged, 17 hospital damaged.
The water infrastructure has been damaged. We have almost half a million people today who have no access to water because there isn’t enough pressure or the system is damaged. Electricity – we have 18-hour power cuts for most of the population in Gaza because either the infrastructure is damaged, or in the case of the power plant, it stopped functioning because it was directly hit by the bombardment. The situation in Gaza at this point, even though we do have a ceasefire, is a humanitarian crisis. What we would obviously ask is not just to provide humanitarian assistance – which is what most of the organizations are doing today – but, to help Gaza recover, to help rebuild Gaza, so they can regain some degree of normalcy and not go back to where they were.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Isaiah 17 King James Version (KJV)

17 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

² The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
³ The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.
⁴ And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
⁵ And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
⁶ Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.
⁷ At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
⁹ In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
¹⁰ Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
¹¹ In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
¹² Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
¹³ The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
¹⁴ And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

King James Version (KJV)