In Shijaiya, one of the poorest residential areas of Gaza City, Leila Al-Helou goes back to the wreckage of her home which she and her family had built over the past 20 years. The upper floors have been completely destroyed. ICRC teams assess the damage in this neighbourhood. They have helped replace windows, doors and roofs for more than 15,000 people in Gaza city, but Leila al-Helou's home is beyond such repair. Leila and her family are staying with relatives while they decide what to do next. But over 18,000 people who have lost their homes are staying in UNRWA temporary shelters.

Like many residents, Leila wants more than the reconstruction of her old home, "What we need most is security," she insists.

ICRC and Palestinian Red Crescent Society workers give out emergency aid and have started work on some of the Strip's shattered infrastructure. Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC office in Gaza has been in the Strip throughout the conflict. He believes that it will take more than emergency aid for people in Gaza to recover from the crisis and live a normal life. As well as repairs and restoration, economic recovery is essential but, "three weeks of war after one and half years of embargo .. will make it very hard to recover."

In areas including Sudania, Beit Lahiya and Zaytun in Gaza city, water and power supplies systems have been severely damaged. The Ministry of Health reports that one fifth of the population of the Gaza Strip have no direct access to drinking water. Drains and sewage systems have also been badly damaged. Repairs are under way at the Sheikh Ajleen sewage treatment plant in the centre of the Gaza Strip which treats raw sewage for about 400,000 people. It was severely damaged when it was hit during the second week of conflict. Raw sewage pours into rivers, into residential areas and into the Mediterranean sea posing a threat to public health as well as the environment.

In the north of the strip, where electricity networks suffered major damage during the conflict, households receive power for only six hours a day. Power generators are provided by ICRC to pumping stations for three water wells with no power supply in Khan Yunis, south of the Strip.

Shotlist

Date, location: 23 Jan 09, Gaza
Production: ICRC
Sound: English, Arabic
Copyright: ICRC – Access All
length: 4 mins

00 00 Gaza city . Al Atatra area – travelling shots - destruction
00 11 Destroyed houses – people in rubble
00 17 Old man looking for papers in ruins
00 37 ICRC /Palestinian Red Crescent team arrive to assess damage
00 56 Visit house of Leila Al Helou with her children – destruction

01 23

ITW Leila Al Helou (Arabic)

"We are now homeless. We have been left with no furniture, no water, no clothes, no electricity. We have nowhere to live, no water and no power."

01 38 "What we need most is security. If you can guarantee our security, then give whatever else you want, it does not matter. We need absolutely everything anyway. Thank God, we managed to stay on our land. We did not hurt anyone."

01 56 Children in ruins of Al Helou home
02 16 Donkey cart crossing a river of sewage on the way to the Sheikh Ajleen sewage treatment plant in the centre of the Strip.
02 21 Sheikh Ajleen main sewage pipe leaking, damaged by an Israeli tank. ICRC teams together with Palestinian engineers and technicians fixed it on 22 Jan Thursday
02 27 Sheikh Ajleen sewage treatment plant (in the centre of the Strip): The plant, treats raw sewage for about 400,000 people including a large proportion of Gaza City residents. It has been non-functioning since it was hit by a shell during the second week of the conflict. Raw sewage pours directly into residential areas, agricultural fields and the Mediterranean Sea posing a serious threat to public health and to the environment.
02 40 Delivery of power generators by ICRC to pumping stations of three water wells deprived of electricity supply because of the fighting. Khan Yunis, south of the Strip.

03 01 Al-Quds Hospital and Palestine Red Crescent Society Headquarters, Tel Al-Hawa Gaza City , exteriors with damage. The building was hit twice by shelling on 15 January. Repair work is under way.

03 16

ITW Antoine Grand, ICRC head of ICRC office in Gaza (English)

"Already before this military operation the situation was very preoccupying in the Gaza Strip. As you know there has been an embargo imposed since October 2007, an embargo which has become even stricter in November 2008. And already at that time the infrastructure was crumbling and the living conditions of the population was deteriorating. So if you want actually to go back to normal, we need more trucks, more humanitarian aid, and we also need commercial activity to resume in the Gaza Strip."

03 44 Well it will take a long time. The Palestinian economy can re-boom very quickly, but this three weeks of intensive destruction, these three weeks of war, plus the one and a half years of closure, of embargo…. it will be very hard to recover."

03 59 ENDS