UNRWA Compensates Owners of Partially Damaged Houses in Gaza

Palestinians in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in November (AFP)
Palestinians in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in November (AFP)
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UNRWA Compensates Owners of Partially Damaged Houses in Gaza

Palestinians in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in November (AFP)
Palestinians in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in November (AFP)

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has started a wide-scope compensation for the owners of partially damaged houses during the recent Israeli war on the Gaza Strip last May.

A spokesman for the UNRWA Adnan Abu Hasna stated that the Agency opened social services offices throughout the Gaza Strip to hand out the compensations.

Around 2,200 refugees headed to the offices to complete the procedures. Hasna said that the benefits will be delivered via banks during the upcoming days,

Israel carried out an 11-day aggression on Gaza and it ended by declaring a ceasefire on May 21.

The aggression caused severe destruction to 1,335 residential institutions, and moderate destruction to around 12,886 houses, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza.

UNRWA launched this operation in coordination with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as well as other UN organizations.

The compensation of UNRWA is part of a wider plan to reconstruct Gaza.

In the same context, Egypt announced a financial grant of $500 million to construct three housing complexes in the Gaza Strip: The American School in northern Gaza, the veterans’ area in Karama, and Al-Zahraa in the middle.



Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.

Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib passed the message to his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in a phone call, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on X.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad through years of war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.

Under Assad, Hezbollah used Syria to bring in weapons and other military equipment from Iran, through Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon. But on Dec. 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the border with Iraq and cut off that route, and two days later, opposition factions captured the capital Damascus.

Syria's new de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders after toppling Assad.