GAZA, March 23, 2017 (WAFA) – Saudi Arabia has contributed $80 million that will go toward reconstructing Gaza homes destroyed during the 2014 Israeli military onslaught, Minister of Housing Mufeed Hasayneh said on Thursday.

He told a press conference in Gaza that $40 million will be disbursed in cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to 1300 beneficiaries, while $10 million out the remaining $40 million will go toward reconstructing 274 homes in coordination with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Hasayneh said that once the current projects are completed, almost 89 per cent of the Gaza reconstruction plan would be completed.

The housing minister also said Israel recently approved 876 applications for purchase of cement for private use in Gaza. He said a total of 1.6 million tons of cement have been imported from Israel as part of the Gaza reconstruction plan.

M.K.