GAZA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Private sector institutions in the Palestinian Gaza Strip urged Monday for calling off the United Nations Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) amid a Palestinian-Israeli agreement to review the international rebuilding plan.
"The plan has failed its purpose on the ground and further contributed to tightening the blockade on Gaza under UN sponsorship," a statement by the institutions said.
The amount of cement that was allowed into Gaza for the private sector since last mid-October until the end of last year did not exceed two million tons, or 30 percent of the needed amount, the statement said.
The statement highlighted the pressing need for cement to reconstruct homes destroyed by Israel during its offensive on the blockaded territory in 2014.
The GRM is a temporary agreement among the Palestinian National Authority, Israel and the United Nations that went into effect after Israel's 2014 major offensive on Gaza.
The mechanism is meant to facilitate the entry of essential construction materials into Gaza, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade since Hamas movement's violent takeover of Gaza in 2007.
Israel restricts the entry into Gaza of many items that it says could be used for military activities such as gravel, concrete, steel bars, cement and wood in addition to things like x-ray machines and pumps needed to power water and sewage lines.
On Thursday, UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov, who met with Palestinian and Israeli officials last week, stated that all sides agreed on the need for a joint review of the GRM to improve its functionality, transparency and predictability.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Minister of Public Works and Housing, Mufid al-Hasayneh said Monday in a press statement that the Israeli war on Gaza in 2014 had significantly worsened the crisis as it caused severe damage to the houses, where 200,000 homes were totally destroyed or partially damaged.
He pointed out that 20 percent of the Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip live in overcrowded housing units with high population density, while the population growth rate in the Palestinian enclave stands at 3.3 percent.
The 51-day Israeli assault in 2014 left at least 2,251 Palestinians dead and hundreds of destroyed houses, according to the United Nations figures.
