38 terms of disability, filings included five complaints made by PWDs. A rising number of complaints were made in the Gaza Strip by contrast with the West Bank. The IOF destroyed thousands of residential buildings during recurrent aggressions against the Gaza Strip. While the reconstruction process slowed down, the public need for housing has increased in view of higher population density and deteriorating economic and social conditions. The ICHR understands why the number of persons entitled to adequate housing is so large in the Gaza Strip. A growing class of citizens are in need of adequate housing due to several factors. The Gaza-based Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) is incapable of meeting all housing needs in Gaza as well. However, the ICHR is of the view that the Ministry did not set clear and transparent criteria, by which it identifies its role in addressing these needs. The roles to be played by the MoPWH and other duty bearers (MoSD, MoLG, municipalities and village councils) are insufficiently coordinated to ensure that citizen have the minimal right to adequate housing. In 2022, in cooperation with the MoSD, the MoPWH launched the Housing Improvement for Poor and Vulnerable Households service. Having received 14,319 applications, the MoPWH will do field research to list to priority and most needy cases. Over the past years, 1,428 households benefited from the Decent House Initiative, a programme for improving housing conditions targeting vulnerable social cases.22 Owing to the natural population increase, annual requirements for housing units amounts to 15,000. As stated by the MoPWH, since 2014, over (90%) of all 12,000 housing units demolished during recurrent Israeli offensives have been reconstructed. In the context of its Partial Damage Repair programme, the Ministry has repaired and rehabilitated (61.3%) of partially damaged houses. The MoPWH has also removed the rubble of Israeli wars since 2014 and onwards.23 While 27,000 housing units require full rebuild, another 61,500 are still in need of restoration and rehabilitation to become habitable. According to MoPWH, the current gap in Gaza reconstruction is estimated at some US$ 200 million, including US$ 94 million for full reconstruction 1,910 housing units and US$ 106 million for rehabilitation of 88,116 partially damaged houses.24 The ICHR recommends that the MoPWH put in place transparent, clearly defined, and public criteria for the projects it supervises to provide compensation for damage to housing units. In coordination with the MoPWH, the Government Action Follow-up Committee needs to adopt national plans and programmes and allocate independent budget appropriations to provide adequate housing 22 MoPWH reply to an ICHR letter, requesting access to information on the right to housing and reconstruction, 19 February 2022. 23 See MoPWH Strategy 2022-2024, available at https://shorturl.at/mrNOW. 24 MoPWH reply to an ICHR letter, op. cit. The Status of Human Rights in Palestine