Gaza blockade over? Not according to the UN.

Since then, UNRWA has received 562 truckloads of building materials, while it estimates it needs 3,000 more to complete the 25 projects. The UNDP has received no construction materials. The UN estimates that a total of 670,000 truckloads of construction materials are needed to meet Gaza’s needs. According to the report, about 715 truckloads per month have been delivered to Gaza since Israel announced its policy change, which is about 11 percent of pre-blockade levels.

“We have everything set, we’ve got everything ready to go,” says Dania Darwish, spokeswoman for the UNDP in Jerusalem. “We don’t know why we haven’t received any construction materials.”

Israel disagrees

Major Guy Inbar, spokesman for Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT), says delivery of construction materials has been delayed because Israel was waiting for the UN agencies to finish their contracts and tenders for the projects. Between 20 and 50 percent of trucks coming into Gaza carry building materials, and the number of truckloads into Gaza has increased by 92 percent since June, he said.

Ms. Darwish says the UNDP has completed all of its contracts, the projects are fully funded, and contractors are standing by to begin construction as soon as the materials arrive.

Israel tightly controls the imports of building materials into Gaza because it fears they could be used by militants to build fortifications or attack Israel. It has required the UN to monitor all of the building supplies entering Gaza to ensure they do not fall into the hands of Hamas or militants. That has contributed to the sluggish pace of entry.

But Mr. Ging says militants can easily get their hands on building supplies in Gaza because of the smuggling tunnels on the border with Egypt. Hundreds of tons of cement are smuggled into Gaza through the tunnels every month. If the UN were willing to use smuggled goods, it could easily complete its projects, he says.

“Those who are saying it might fall into the wrong hands know perfectly well that cement is coming into Gaza through the tunnels,” he says. “It just flies in the face of all logic and it also flies in the face of all honesty in the way this is being dealt with. We are being prevented from building schools ... on the basis of a dishonest argument that is undermined by the fact that cement is coming in through the tunnels.”

Inbar says the tunnels don’t negate Israel’s need to make sure the legally imported supplies don’t fall into the hands of Hamas. “I can't control the tunnels,” he says, adding that the cement brought through them is of much lower quality than legally imported cement. “That doesn't mean that I have to cooperate with them, and help them to get more. It's not our obligation to help Hamas get this stuff.”

UNRWA says that 40,000 Gazan children have been turned away from its schools because it does not have the room for them. Its classrooms already operate on double shifts because of the crowding. UNWRA has not been able to build a new school in four years in Gaza, where 80 percent of the population depends on aid and unemployment is 40 percent.

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