UNRWA starts rebuilding Palestinian refugees' homes destroyed by Israel

Gaza, Oct 13 (IANS) The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) started rebuilding Palestinian refugees' homes, which had been destroyed by Israel in the Gaza Strip in May, a UN official said.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told a news conference before the agency started to reconstruct a destroyed home in a refugee camp in western Gaza city as the beginning of reconstruction process of refugees' homes, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The process includes 1,200 Palestinian refugee families who left their homes with severe damage and were unable to return to them due to the massive destruction," Lazzarini said.

He added that there are 7,000 other families that will be provided with assistance once the financial support is available, reminding that UNRWA needs 20 million US dollars "in order to deal with these cases."

On May 21, Egypt brokered a cease-fire agreement which ended 11 days of fighting between Israel and militant groups led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which has been ruling Gaza since 2007.

The fighting in the Gaza Strip in May left more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis killed besides large destructions of buildings and infrastructure in the besieged coastal enclave.