Dr. Hassan al-Saifi, undersecretary of Gaza’s Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, said a high-level Turkish delegation would arrive in the Gaza Strip on June 5 to check on the reconstruction of mosques destroyed during the Israeli offensive in the summer of 2014.
He spoke during a Sunday inspection tour of nine destroyed mosques being rebuilt with funding from the Turkish Diyanet Foundation. The tour covered the al-Bukhari, Muslim and Hassan al-Banna mosques in the northern governorate; Sultan Abdul Hamid Mosque in Gaza; al-Safa and Hamza mosques in the central area; Imam Malik Mosque in Khan Younis; and al-Tawhid and Badr mosques in Rafah.
Al-Saifi said the higher committee overseeing the reconstruction had set out to inspect the mosques and review progress in the first phase. He said the Israeli occupation destroyed 110 mosques during the offensive on Gaza.
He said his ministry would receive the Turkish delegation on June 5 to review the work and reconstruction process. The delegation was keen to move from rebuilding these nine mosques to building another 10.
Al-Saifi thanked Turkey’s presidency, government and people for their continuing support for Gaza and its residents. He also thanked Professor Mehmet Gormez, head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Presidency, who had announced the mosque reconstruction initiative from Gaza.
“The ministry faced many difficulties during reconstruction,” al-Saifi said. He stressed that Gaza’s residents would pray in their mosques, adding: “The occupation will not succeed in depriving us of our mosques and prayer in them, because their only function is worship.”
This was not the first Turkish support for Gaza’s reconstruction since the Israeli offensive two years earlier. In July of last year, Abdulsalam Haniyeh, a member of the Supreme Council for Youth, announced that President Erdogan had approved a $3.5 million project to build a large sports stadium in the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh said Turkey had also agreed to begin construction of 300 housing units in Gaza, provide $15,000 to Palestinian clubs, hold a youth camp in Turkey for 100 participants, and approve a visit by Palestine’s al-Sadaqa Club to Ankara.