Caravans drain relief funds and delay Gaza reconstruction

The municipality of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip has started a project to build a permanent shelter center for owners of destroyed homes. The project includes 100 housing units on an 8-dunam plot near Beit Hanoun hospital. The first phase, costing about $156,000, involves installing water and sewage networks, electrification, and road construction. The second phase, manufacturing the caravans, costs about $815,000. An additional 200 units are planned for later stages.

A fire broke out in a caravan in the town of Khuzaa east of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning. The blaze was caused by an explosion of a gas cylinder inside the dwelling, which housed displaced persons. Civil defense crews extinguished the fire, with no reports of casualties.

Israeli settlers placed a mobile home (caravan) and livestock facilities in the Wadi Tayasir area northeast of Tubas. According to the local council head, the structures were erected on a mountain near Palestinian homes. The incident occurred on Thursday morning, following an attack by settlers that injured four Palestinians in the same area the previous night.

The Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization, in cooperation with the army, is dispatching a convoy of seven military trucks carrying 40 mobile homes to the Gaza Strip. The caravans will be delivered through the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza to the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing for distribution to affected families.

The Hashemite Charity Organization has started manufacturing, assembling, and distributing caravans and prefabricated homes in the Gaza Strip. Due to import restrictions, it shifted to local production, prioritizing the most affected areas and needy families.

Israel rejected a request from the National Committee for the Management of Gaza to import 3,500 mobile homes (caravans) for families living in tents. The authorities cited non-compliance of the wood and iron structures with established standards that prohibit dual-use materials, demanding the use of fiberglass instead. The committee estimates the sector's total need for such temporary housing at 200,000 units.