A
six-day offensive in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun left
52 people dead, another 250 people injured, and caused major damage to
homes and agriculture.
Most of Beit Hanoun's 30,000 residents spent the week trapped in their homes as fighting raged in the town's streets.
Troops pulled out of the town on 7 November 2006, leaving destroyed
homes, uprooted trees, ruined crops, and streets flooded with sewage
after pipes were ruptured by tanks.
A
day after the pullout, another 18 people were killed as tanks fired a
barrage of missiles into the beleaguered town. Of the dead, seven were
women, three were men, and the remaining ten were under the age of 18.
Economy affected
Beit
Hanoun is in one of the most fertile areas of the Gaza Strip, but the
six-day offensive cut wide swathes of destruction through cultivated
land, damaging the town's primary industry.
Since June
26 2006, military incursions and aerial bombardments have caused damage
to Gaza's agriculture estimated at US$ 23.5 million.
The conflict has also caused severe damage to infrastructure. Bridges,
roads, a power supply plant, and water supply networks have been
wrecked in the past few months. The cost of damage to infrastructure is
estimated at US$8 million.
Aid Freeze
The
attack on Beit Hanoun comes after a freeze on financial aid that has
left government employees and civil servants without a regular salary
since March.
Foreign governments imposed a financial
embargo on the Palestinian Authority after elections in January 2006,
leaving 165,000 people without pay.
Around a quarter of the
population depend directly on salaries paid out by the Palestinian
Authority, but the aid freeze is affecting the entire Palestinian
economy.
Without government salaries, the economy has fallen into decline and poverty and unemployment is on the rise.
Islamic Relief Responds
Islamic Relief aid workers in Palestine have formed an emergency team to respond to the crisis in Beit Hanoun.
IR aid workers preparing for a food distribution
The
team is coordinating a response with the Red Cross and is assessing the
needs of the people in the town. Other international aid agencies are
not yet working in Beit Hanoun.
An Islamic Relief
engineer visited the Gaza European Hospital which was damaged during
the siege, and in the coming week IR will begin repair work on the
hospital's roof.
- IR aid workers have
distributed 1,500 emergency food parcels, containing water, beans,
humus, bread, tuna, Qurbani meat, and cheese.
- IR has also distributed 400 sets of medical clothing and surgical masks to three of Bait Hanoun's hospitals.
In the coming days IR plans to:
- Distribute at least a further 1,000 food parcels;
- Distribute milk and nappies;
- Distribute hygiene packs and medical clothing to hospitals.