UN welcomes UAE Jenin pledge

The UN says 4,000 people have been left homeless

Aid workers in Jenin have welcomed an offer by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to help rebuild the devastated West Bank refugee camp.

The UAE says it will rebuild 800 homes destroyed in recent fighting between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces.

This most generous pledge will bring some hope and reassurance to a badly traumatised refugee population

Peter Hansen, Unrwa

The UAE says it has also sent a plane carrying 40 tonnes of food and medical supplies for the Palestinians.

"It is a unique contribution, with no other union of states giving such a blanket commitment to a major chunk of repairing the damage that's done," said United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) commissioner-general Peter Hansen.

Mr Hansen said the aid amounted to about $35m.

Unrwa, which administers the camp, says about 800 families, comprising more than 4,000 people, were left homeless following 12 days of fighting earlier this month.

"This most generous pledge will bring some hope and reassurance to a badly traumatised refugee population," said Mr Hansen.

Years to rebuild

The agency said it would take about two years for life to get back to normal in Jenin.

Jenin is still without water and electricity

"Life there is still difficult, it has not got back to any semblance of normality," Unrwa spokesman Sami Mushasha told BBC News Online.

Mr Mushasha said water and electricity was still cut off to the camp two weeks after the fighting ended.

He said teams from France, Britain and Norway were helping search for bodies but the process was slow because of the danger of unexploded Israeli ordinance and Palestinian booby traps.

Palestinian officials said on Sunday that 54 bodies had been recovered from rubble in the camp and that they expect the death toll to rise.