An event that resulted in protests around the world, the 51 day war between Palestine and Israel is now at an end, with much of both cities left in ruin. Attempts our now being made, with lots of government funding, to rebuild the Gaza Strip, a small Palestinian territory located between Egypt and Israel. It runs along the Mediterranean coast and is populated by Palestinians who are mostly ethnic Arabs and majority Muslim. The Strip’s history of war has left it deeply impoverished (Washingtonpost.com).

On October 12, 2014 an international conference was held in Egypt, wherein 5.4 billion dollars was pledged to be donated to the reconstruction of Gaza (UN.org). Some Gaza officials are outraged because out of that only 2.7 billion dollars will be aimed towards reconstruction, and the rest towards Palestine’s budget for the next few years (Aljazeera.com). The 51 day war with Israel left approximately 100,000 Palestinian homes either damaged or destroyed, leaving 1 in 4 of them without shelter and many injured (UN.org).

With over 600,000 people without homes, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) focuses the bulk of their efforts on providing food and shelter for those most in need. Not only that, but they also aim to provide therapy and support for the children most affected, “water and sanitation services to over 40,000 displaced people, cash grants to the homeless for rent, as well as urgent repairs to 118 UNRWA installations” (UN.org).

Their intentions are good; however, progress is slow due to the restrictions Israeli officials have placed on the import of building materials. In the Palestinian-Israeli treaty that was brokered by the UN, Israel required that a monitoring system be put into effect that gives them complete say-so over which materials are allowed and distributed into Gaza. Israeli officials insisted that building materials such as cement, metal pipes, and steel are all “dual use” items that Hamas might use to rebuild underground construction tunnels that could be used for military purposes (Aljazeera.com).

This blockade acts as a symbol of the oppression that Gaza has had to endure over the years. By implementing it, even with the treaty in place, the Israeli government demonstrates a lack of faith in the word of Hamas about a cease-fire. UNRWA workers express what a setback this restriction policy is and have been repeatedly trying to get it lifted. They stress that “access for building materials is critical and… an essential parameter to enable Gaza to emerge from years of suffering, joblessness and a lack of prospects” (UN.org).