A/HRC/28/78 G. Recovery and reconstruction efforts 38. The rebuilding of lives and livelihoods following intensive bombardment, mortar fire and ground operations across Gaza is a momentous task that will continue for some time to come. The Palestinian Government of National Consensus reportedly estimated the cost of relief, recovery and reconstruction for Gaza at $4 billion. The international community pledged up to $5.4 billion for Gaza reconstruction at the donor conference held in Cairo in October 2014, but many pledges have not been fulfilled. UNRWA had estimated the total funding required for the provision of rental subsidies to families with no alternative shelter, reconstruction of destroyed homes and repair for those with damage at $720 million; as at December 2014, however, only $100 million had been pledged, leaving a shortfall of $620 million. According to UNRWA, the impact of ceasing payments to affected families would be dramatic, forecasting that tens of thousands of refugee families would find themselves with inadequate shelter and no support during the harshest months of winter.23 39. Some 100,000 people remain displaced and in need of continuing assistance; 450,000 are disconnected from the water network owing to damage and/or low pressure, while approximately 22,000 housing units require rebuilding or substantial repair. Despite the Gaza reconstruction mechanism brokered by the United Nations and that came into effect in early November, the delivery of essential building materials has been painfully slow. Four months after the ceasefire and with the onset of winter, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process conceded, during a visit to Gaza in December 2014, that the operating environment continued to face many challenges, including a fragile and informal ceasefire that had not yet solidified and a lack of empowerment of the Government of National Consensus in Gaza with no control over the crossings. Such difficult issues, coupled with insufficient financial assistance from donors, had only worsened the atmosphere in an already devastated Gaza. As the Special Coordinator stated during his briefing to the Security Council a few days later, “this temporary mechanism is not a substitute for the lifting of all closures on Gaza as laid out in Security Council resolution 1860 (2009)”.24 40. After 51 days of bombardment, the conditions of life in Gaza have shifted ever closer to the dismal forecast made in 2012 by the United Nations country team, which questioned whether Gaza would be a liveable place by 2020.25 The shortages in construction materials and related price hikes have contributed to an already high level of unemployment generally, but particularly in the construction sector, which used to absorb 10 per cent of the Gaza workforce, and also increased rates of poverty and food insecurity. In a report on assistance to the Palestinian people, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development found that Israeli constraints in general and restrictions on the mobility of Palestinian workers in particular across the Occupied Palestinian Territory had had a disproportionately high impact on Palestinian women. 26 Information received by the Special Rapporteur also indicated that the widespread poverty and retreat of discouraged Palestinian men from the labour market is a consequence of the lack of employment opportunities. Human rights defenders in Gaza repeatedly stressed that the humanitarian 23 24 25 26 12 UNRWA, “Urgent funding required to address unprecedented destruction in the Gaza Strip”, 18 December 2014. Department of Political Affairs, Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, 15 December 2014. United Nations country team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, “Gaza in 2020: A liveable place?”, August 2012. TD/B/61/3.