Houses to be built in ex-Gaza settlements

GAZA, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The Palestinian Authority will build thousands of houses in the place of Jewish settlements to ease population density in Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Authority legal adviser Diana Bato was quoted by the Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, as saying Thursday that plans were made to build 5,000 housing units in several parts of the strip at the cost of $165 million to be donated mostly by oil-rich Arab Gulf countries and Japan.

"The aim is to exploit the land evacuated by Israel in order to ease population density in the camps," Bato said.

She said the city of Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates, for poor families will be built in the place of the former settlement of Morag in south Gaza.