WASHINGTON: Top finance officials from around the world have underscored their willingness to help rebuild the Palestinian enclave of Gaza this week.
The World Bank and United Nations are working to finalise a new cost estimate of $70 billion for the reconstruction effort.
Members of the ministerial-level Development Committee that advises the World Bank and International Monetary Fund discussed the challenges involved during a Thursday meeting.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed appreciation for the ceasefire and the halt in killing.
“We hope that it will just lead to the next phase and that that will happen peacefully,” she said.
A United States-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants has halted two years of devastating war.
United Nations officials report that aid convoys are struggling to reach famine-hit areas of north Gaza due to war-damaged roads and the closure of key routes.
The United Nations World Food Program stated that 560 metric tons of food has entered the Gaza Strip per day on average since the ceasefire deal.
This amount remains well below the scale of need according to the organisation.
Okonjo-Iweala confirmed the Development Committee discussed Gaza reconstruction and what form that might take.
World Bank officials expressed willingness to work with people in the region and others on the reconstruction effort.
“We want to help. So we just hope that this means a way forward and normalization of life ... so that people get back to their normal lives,” she said.
She acknowledged that the recovery process “will take a long time.”
Haoliang Xu, acting administrator of the United Nations Development Program, told Reuters that conditions for reconstruction were not yet in place.
He said plans were taking shape for a reconstruction conference, but the timing was not yet set.
“The problem is where do you start?” Xu said, citing the latest United Nations estimates that over 61 million tonnes of rubble had to be removed from the area.
“We are capable, we can do it, but the conditions have to be right. We need the hostages released, the bodies released,” he said.
Shelter was another huge need he identified, noting that winter was coming.
The World Bank, United Nations and European Union had estimated in February that it would cost more than $50 billion to rebuild Gaza.
These organisations are now finalising a new interim estimate of $70 billion.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza was launched in response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s operation has killed more than 67,000 people according to Gaza health officials and left the enclave in ruins. – Reuters
