Building is booming in Gaza

GAZA, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Hamas has approved the construction of three high-rise apartment buildings in Gaza to be financed primarily by Iran, a Hamas official said.

The 25,000 new apartments will cater to families of 'martyrs' whose husbands or sons were killed by the Israeli miliary, newly married couples and those whose homes were damaged in last year's Operation Cast Lead, Hamas Housing Minister Yousef Alamanti told Yedioth Aharonoth.

The units will be sold for between $25,000 to $40,000 each.

The funding for the new buildings comes mainly from Iran, but donations have also been received from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the report said.

The apartment buildings will be constructed in different areas of the Gaza Strip, including sites where Israeli settlements were located prior to the unilateral withdrawal by Israel in 2005, the newspaper said.

Each building will be located in a complex that will have an adjoining shopping center, schools, a playground and a mosque.

In addition to the apartments, international organizations operating in Gaza are supervising 70 projects to improve the health, education and sanitary conditions in the Gaza Strip, the newspaper said.

The report said Gaza is not experiencing a shortage of food or building materials. Gazans have overcome the restrictions imposed by Israel on building materials by smuggling them through tunnels, the report said.