Qatar Red Crescent Inspects Damage to its Projects in Gaza

Doha, September 01 (QNA) - Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) Office in Gaza issued a formal report on the current status of projects implemented by QRC in Gaza over the past few years, under supervision of and with funding from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), to measure the total or partial damage caused by the recent two-month Israeli aggression on Gaza, which targeted most public facilities such as hospitals, schools, and mosques and destroyed many infrastructure services and installations throughout the enclave. The report said that the premises of Al-Wafaa Specialized Hospital were 100% destroyed by Israeli bombings, including the Diabetic Foot Department. The first of its kind in Gaza, it was inaugurated in June 2013 as part of the Gaza disability services development and psychological support programme. Now, there is only the debris of the hospital. It added that the facilities of the Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University in Gaza, located at Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, were 25% damaged, including a water well, the water pump room, greenhouses, and surrounding walls. Under the Gaza higher education development project, QRC had rebuilt and maintained the faculty's building and facilities. The Israeli bombs affected a number of homes and schools that were readjusted and refurnished by QRC to fit students with disabilities, under the Gaza disability services development and psychological support programme, the report said, adding that seven homes, or 27% of the project's 26 rehabilitated homes, were partly damaged. The internal facilities of several schools were hit by missiles. The reported pointed out that the University College was stricken by more than 80 missiles, which damaged several parts of the campus, remarkably some solar panels supplied by QRC to the College under the Gaza higher education development project, to light a whole floor of one of the College's premises for electric engineering students. The panels were 20% damaged. Fortunately, there were some accomplished works that were not affected by the Israeli aggression against Gaza, including the finishing of Al-Shifaa Hospital's specialized surgery building, rehabilitation of sewerage pumps and generators, and all the components of disability services and higher education development programmes not covered in the report. IDB is one of the major supporters of QRC development projects in Gaza after the last Israeli war on Gaza three years ago. In 2013-2014 alone, the bank funded numerous projects at a total cost of QR 58,298,000 for Gaza's 1.8 million population. Examples of QRC projects funded by IDB in Gaza include, but are not limited to, rehabilitation of sewerage networks; rehabilitation of Al-Shifaa, Al-Nasr, and Kamal Adwan Hospitals; construction of two floors at the Islamic University of Gaza schools of medicine and science; finishing of Al-Shifaa Hospital's new specialized surgery building; restoration and maintenance of Nasser Hospital; improvement of disability services in Gaza; procurement of medical equipment for the European Hospital; rehabilitation of sewerage stations and generators; furnishing of the cardiac surgery section of the Al-Shifaa Medical Complex's specialized surgery building; miscellaneous medical projects in Gaza; and funding of the specialized medical scholarship for 11 Palestinian doctors in Jordan (2013- 2017). (QNA)