Palestine's refugees amount 5.1m

The Palestine refugee community amounts to 5.1 million, just under a third of the world's total refugee population and some 40 percent of long term refugees globally -- that is, those who have been refugees for more than five years.
Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Pierre Krahenbuhl told the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly the number of Palestine refugees is equivalent to the population of Norway or Singapore.
In Gaza, Palestine's refugees and non-refugees alike, are just emerging from the unprecedented violence and destruction experienced during the 50-day conflict in July and August, he said.
"We have all been shocked by the killing of over 1,500 civilians in Gaza, including 538 children, 306 women and 11 UNRWA colleagues," he expressed.
Some 1,500 children have been orphaned, 11,000 people were injured including 1,000 children who will live the rest of their lives with permanent disabilities, the UN official added.
Krahenbuhl said that the world has witnessed the widespread traumatisation of civilians and children, the obliteration of homes - leaving 110,000 people homeless - the loss of livelihoods, the destruction of more than 500 businesses, the crippling of the Gaza power plant, the killing of 40 percent of Gaza's livestock as well as the wrecking of prime agricultural land.
At the peak of the crisis, almost a third of the population of Gaza fled their homes; UNRWA alone sheltered and assisted almost 300,000 displaced persons in 90 of our schools, he confirmed.
Shockingly, the official expressed, UNRWA was affected by seven incidents of munitions fired at its schools, three of them with deadly consequences resulting in over 42 deaths and an estimated 200 persons with multiple injuries.
The official "unreservedly" condemned those attacks on UN premises which constituted violations of international law by Israel, and have called for investigations and accountability.
Furthermore, the UNRWA discovered weapons components hidden in three of their schools, "we were proactive and transparent in informing all key parties about these discoveries and we publicly condemned these violations of international law," he said.
The Cairo donors' conference has brought forward significant pledges to rebuild Gaza, as it is urgent to concretely activate these pledges, he said.
For its part, UNRWA is seeking USD 1.68 billion to enable it to rebuild 14,000 destroyed refugee homes, repair over 70,000 refugee dwellings and 118 UNRWA buildings, rehabilitate camp infrastructure and provide essential relief, food, and temporary shelter to those in need.
Rebuilding refugee homes alone is expected to cost around USD 700 million.