COPENHAGEN, May 8, (IslamOnline.net) - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) accused the Israeli occupation forces of forcing 12,000 Palestinian civilians to be become homeless after demolishing their homes.

In a report issued Wednesday, May 7, the UNRWA stressed that the “total number of Palestinians made homeless by Israeli’s military demolition campaign climbed above 12,000 this month following a rapid acceleration of the policy in Gaza during the first quarter of this year.”

It asserted that since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000 until last April, “a total of 12,737 people had seen their homes demolished (by the Israeli occupation forces) in Gaza and the West Bank.”

According to the report, the UNRWA, which is responsible for the welfare for almost all of those affected, “is trying to raise donor funds to replace the lost shelters in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

The U.N. body underlined that the recent months have seen a sharp increase in house demolitions in the Gaza Strip.

“At the end of 2002, total and partial demolitions had up to then averaged under 30 per month.

“In the first three months of 2003, 221 shelters were demolished or damaged beyond repair - making an average of 74 a month. These alone housed 401 families (2,273 persons).”

The UNRWA charged that Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses “often occur late at night with little or no warning.

“Israeli military units - supported by tanks, APCs and helicopters - enter Palestinian areas to destroy a variety of targeted houses.”

According to UNRWA a “great many demolitions have occurred near Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel is building a security fence,” adding that Palestinian houses close to Jewish settlements “are often also destroyed.”

It asserted that Israeli occupation forces are increasingly using “explosives rather than bulldozers …to destroy property creating widespread collateral damage.”

UNRWA said it has so far been able to complete only 158 new shelters for homeless families and is working on 160 more.

A further 471 shelters, including those destroyed in Jenin in April 2002, are at the planning and design stage, but security concerns have caused delays to rebuilding.

UNRWA Commissioner General Peter Hansen said “it is impossible for UNRWA to keep pace with the current level of destruction in the occupied territory.

“Even if peace were to break out tomorrow there would be an ongoing need for funds for reconstruction to help all those families who have lost their homes in this conflict.”

Hansen will discuss donor funding for UNRWA’s emergency operations and the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory in a series of meetings with the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland and with regional NGOs, said the U.N. body.