Israeli bombs destroyed several QRC projects in Gaza

Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) Office in Gaza has issued a report on the status of projects it has implemented over the past few years, under supervision of and with funding from Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

QRC has assessed total or partial damage caused by the recent two-month Israeli aggression, which targeted public facilities such as hospitals, schools, and mosques and destroyed many infrastructure services and installations throughout the enclave.

Al Wafaa Specialised Hospital was completely destroyed, including the Diabetic Foot Department.

The facility, the first of its kind in Gaza, was inaugurated in June 2013 as part of a disability services development and psychological support programme.

Facilities at the Faculty of Agriculture, Al Azhar University in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza were 25 percent damaged, including a water well, the water pump room, greenhouses, and surrounding walls. 

Under a higher education development project, QRC had rebuilt and maintained the faculty’s building and facilities.

Israeli bombs affected several homes and schools that were rebuilt and refurbished by QRC for students with disabilities.

Seven homes, or 27 percent of the project’s 26 rehabilitated homes, were partly damaged. Internal facilities of several schools were also damaged by missiles. 

The University College was hit by more than 80 missiles, which damaged several parts of the campus, including some solar panels supplied by QRC  to light a whole floor of one of the premises for electric engineering students. The panels were 20 percent damaged.

However, some accomplished works were not affected, including Al Shifaa Hospital’s specialised surgery building, sewerage pumps and generators, and all components of the disability services and higher education development programmes not covered in the report.

IDB is one of the major supporters of QRC’s development projects in Gaza after the last Israeli war three years ago. In 2013-2014, the bank funded several projects at a cost of QR58,298,000 for Gaza’s 1.8m population.

They include rehabilitation of sewerage networks and Al Shifaa, Al Nasr, and Kamal Adwan hospitals and construction of two floors of Islamic University of Gaza schools of medicine and science.

The bombings also prevented the completion of Al Shifaa Hospital’s new specialised surgery building, restoration and maintenance of Nasser Hospital, improvement of disability services and procurement of medical equipment for a European Hospital.

Othere projects affected - rehabilitation of sewerage stations and generators, furnishing of the cardiac surgery section of Al Shifaa Complex’s specialised surgery building, miscellaneous medical projects and funding of the specialised medical scholarship for 11 Palestinian doctors in Jordan for 2013- 2017.

The Peninsula | Picture: The Diabetic Foot Department of Al Wafaa Hospital destroyed in an Israeli air strike.