Kuwait pledge $200m to rebuild Gaza Strip

Kuwait has pledged $200m to the Palestinian government for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. 

Of the sum donated, $75m will go towards the construction of 1,500 housing units and $60m will be allocated to the laying of a water pipeline between the north and south of the strip.  

Another $35m is earmarked for infrastructure projects, and $15m will be spent on repairing damaged agricultural and industrial structures. Some $7m will go towards supporting projects in the education and health sectors. 

The funding was announced by Abdal-Wahab al-Bader, director general of the Kuwait Development Fund, and Jawad Naji, the Palestinian prime minister’s adviser for Arab and Islamic funds. 

The Palestinian News and Information Agency said "over 100,000 people, more than half of them children, are living in shelters, temporary accommodation or with extended family after their homes were destroyed in the Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip. Tens of thousands more families are living in badly damaged homes". 

According to Catherine Essoyan, Oxfam’s regional director: "Families have been living in homes without roofs, walls or windows for the past six months. Many have just six hours of electricity a day and are without running water.

"Only an end to the blockade of Gaza will ensure that people can rebuild their lives. Every day that people are unable to build is putting more lives at risk."

Hopes of the implementation of the $7.8bn rebuilding plan envisaged by the recent Cairo donors’ conference remain slim. 

Image: Rubble in Gaza (Wikimedia Commons)