square meter of construction was a central factor in the delay of ten months before a single home could be rebuilt.288 4. The last stage is the monitoring of those Palestinians who have collected construction materials, so as to ensure that all of the materials are used for the designated purposes. This step includes UN monitors. As of July 2015, only 6.5 percent out of 22 million tons of required construction materials had been allowed into the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, only one fifth of those materials are intended for the repair of homes damaged during the summer of 2014.289 The GRM has thereby proven to be a further mechanism used by Israel to control and restrict construction in the Gaza Strip. Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip290 “I signed a contract with the Palestinian Water Department to build a water reservoir three months ago. So far, I have only made little progress in its construction because Israel is restricting the import of building materials. I have contacted the Gaza Water Department as the supervising body, and the body responsible for coordinating with Israel to get the building materials needed for this project into Gaza. They told me that Israel is refusing to allow the materials into Gaza. I was unable to receive a clear answer why Israel is not letting the materials in. As a contractor and company owner, any delay in bringing in materials has substantial financial consequences. I have workers, technicians and offices to pay for, and we are unable to work due to the futile [Gaza Reconstruction] mechanism that was put in place. The quantity allowed to enter Gaza is very small and not enough to finish even part of the project. We need 400 cups of concrete to complete the floor of a single water tank; however, the maximum amount we are allowed to bring in monthly is 150 cups. This means that we need three months in order to collect the required amount to build the base of the tank. Taking into consideration that the base and floors cannot be built part by part, we have to wait until we can bring enough materials to build everything at once. Israel is simply hampering the passage of building materials into Gaza by fake excuses. They check the list of names of those whose houses were destroyed name by name, and they do their best to complicate the process. How can we build or rebuild without having the needed materials?” 288 Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, “Where’s the housing boom?”, August 2015, pages 1-2. Available at: http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/construction-boom/constructionboom-en.pdf 289 Ibid. Page 3 290 BADIL’s interview with Tariq Masoud, an architect with a construction company from the Gaza Strip, “Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip”, the Gaza Strip, August 2015 75