Higher committee sets priorities for Gaza relief efforts with shelter, energy initiatives at forefront

AMMAN — The Higher Committee of the Arab and International Organisation to Construct in Palestine has unveiled its intention to initiate housing and energy projects in the Gaza Strip immediately following a declaration of a ceasefire.

The higher committee, represented by the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) and the Jordanian Contractors Association (JCA), outlined priorities of its operations in the Gaza Stripduring a press conference on Wednesday at the Professional Associations Complex (PAC).

“Our role begins in the first moments after ceasefire,” JEA President Ahmad Samara Zu’bi said at the presser.

Pointing that among the very first projects the higher committee will prioritise is the shelter project, which seeks to provide Palestinians in Gaza with temporary housing options.

“The objective is to provide Gazans with static caravans… as a temporary accommodation,” he said. In addition to the shelter project, the committee seeks to provide support through reinforcing existing buildings, removing the rubble and opening the roads, Zu’bi added.

Gaza death toll passed 8,000, and the scale of destruction is on the rise as a result of Israel’s aerial and ground operations’ expansion in the Gaza Strip, Zu’bi noted.

“Up until October 31, 8,525 Palestinians in Gaza lost their lives, and another 21,543 have been injured,” the JEA president said.

The current number of displaced people is estimated at approximately 1.5 million, while those still missing under the rubble are estimated to be 2,000.

Zu’bi highlighted the continuity of the donation campaign for the people of Gaza, which so far raised donations worth JD3 million.

Nearly 200,000 residential units have been partially damaged, while 35,000 residential buildings are completely demolished, according to the syndicate’s president, who also noted that 203 schools have been damaged of which 45 are totally destroyed.

In collaboration with a group of energy companies, the high committee will soon announce a new initiative to be launched as part of its efforts to provide sustainable energy in the strip, Zu’bi said.

“We plan to install solar panels to supply public buildings and hospitals in particular with sustainable and reliable energy sources…this means when power plants run out of fuel there would be an alternative,” he explained.

“Israeli occupation forces use energy as a weapon of war against the people in Gaza,” Zu’bi stressed.

For his part, JCA President Ayman Khdeiri said that “the JCA has contacted representatives of professions supporting the local contracting industry... who in turn showed their full support”.

According to the UN, 81 per cent of the population in Gaza lives in poverty with food insecurity plaguing 63 per cent of Gazans. The besieged strip has a population of roughly 2.1 million people, including approximately 1.7 million Palestinian refugees.