Israel Lets 2Nd Batch Of Building Supplies İnto Gaza

Israel has allowed a second consignment of construction materials into the embattled Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom commercial border crossing, a senior Palestinian border official said Thursday.



Twenty-six trucks loaded with construction supplies – including four carrying cement – entered the coastal strip on Thursday, Nazmi Mehanna, head of the Palestinian border authority, told Anadolu Agency.



Mehanna said the U.N. would distribute the supplies to afflicted families in the war-battered territory.



Within the next few days, he added, construction supplies would be allowed into Gaza on a daily basis.



On Thursday, the West Bank-based Palestinian government began to distribute cement and other construction supplies to Gazans whose homes were destroyed by Israel's recent 51-day military onslaught on the coastal enclave.



A U.N.-sponsored agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, signed in the wake of the recent conflict, stipulated that the entry of construction material into the strip must be closely monitored.



Earlier this month, Israel allowed the entry of 75 trucks loaded with cement and other construction material into the strip. The move came two days after an international conference in Cairo at which donors pledged financial support to rebuild the devastated Palestinian territory.



During Israel's onslaught this summer, over 15,000 housing units were damaged across the Gaza Strip, including 2,200 that were totally destroyed, according to official Palestinian figures.



More than 2,160 Gazans were killed and 11,000 injured, mostly civilians, during seven weeks of unrelenting Israeli bombardment – from air, land and sea – throughout July and August.



By Ola Attalah



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Gazze