The UN and EU estimate a staggering $71.4 billion is required to rebuild Gaza over the next decade following more than two years of devastating war.
GENEVA: More than $71 billion will be needed over the next decade for recovery and reconstruction in war-ravaged Gaza. This figure comes from a final assessment published by the United Nations and European Union in coordination with the World Bank.
The Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment states the conflict has caused an unprecedented loss of life and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. It estimates physical infrastructure damages at $35.2 billion, with economic and social losses amounting to $22.7 billion.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble by the Israeli military offensive. The assessment found 371,888 housing units have been destroyed or damaged.
More than 50% of hospitals in the territory are now non-functional. Nearly all schools have also been destroyed or damaged.
The report says 1.9 million people, nearly Gaza’s entire population, have been displaced. More than 60% of the population has lost their homes.
Gaza’s economy has contracted by a staggering 84%. The scale of deprivation has pushed back human development in the Gaza Strip by 77 years.
The first phase of recovery requires $26.3 billion within 18 months. This funding is to restore essential services, rebuild critical infrastructure and support economic recovery.
The UN and EU stressed recovery must run parallel with ongoing humanitarian action. They insisted the process must be Palestinian-led and support a transfer of governance.
Effective implementation depends on a set of enabling conditions. These include a sustained ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access.
The organisations also called for the free movement of people and reconstruction materials. Without such conditions, they warned neither recovery nor reconstruction can succeed.
The conflict was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Official Israeli figures tallied by AFP state 1,221 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel.
Palestinian militants also abducted 251 hostages during the attack. The retaliatory Israeli military campaign has killed more than 72,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The UN considers the ministry’s figures reliable. Gaza is currently under a fragile ceasefire agreed last October.
