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The United Nations
agency assisting Palestinian refugees today reported that
Israel's military
incursion into refugee camps and the bombing of Gaza City during
March
will cost at least $3.8
million in repairs.
According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA), actions by the
Israeli Defence Force (IDF) caused damage to 22 schools, four
UN health clinics, two
UN ambulances and four camp service centres.
The cost of immediate repairs to the Agency's installations will
be at least $270,000 and
the UN will have to
spend another $225,000 on urgently needed road and infrastructure
repairs inside the
camps. An additional $2.3 million will be required to rebuild the
141
refugee homes that were
destroyed during the incursion, UNRWA said.
In addition to the more than 100 Palestinians who died in the
raids, one UNRWA
employee, Kamal Hamdan,
was killed in the West Bank town of Tulkarm while travelling
in a UN ambulance.
UNRWA's Commissioner-General, Peter Hansen, said the assault has
multiplied the
burden on the Agency's
scarce resources "not only by damaging much of our infrastructure
and installations, but
by creating more victims of violence and destruction. Now more than
ever, the refugees
urgently need the international community to come to their aid."
The UN might seek compensation from Israel for the damages, a
spokesman for the
Organization said in New
York.
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