A combined study by the World Bank, United Nations, and the European Union states that rehabilitating Gaza will come at a total cost of up to $53 billion, most of money meant for the rebuilding of houses. This week’s Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment report aimed at counting damages from October 2023 Israeli airstrikes up to October 2024, and estimating the Recovery Cost. The residential sector suffered the most from the onslaught, with more than 292,000 homes marked as Ruined or Damage, which is about 53% of the total Damage, and was worth $15.2 billion. Commercial and Industrial sites also got bad hits, which absorbed 20% of the Damage, alongside Critical infrastructure that suffered significant hits, accounting for an additional 15% of the total.
The report also highlights the importance of self-determination of Palestinians for economic recovery to ensure that Gaza is reconnected to the West Bank whenever the opportunity presents itself. The report follows a time when US President Donald Trump had resumed talks about taking over Gaza and relocating the remaining two million Palestinians within Jordan and Egypt. Human rights advocates have responded by disregarding the statement, claiming it infringes international law.
At the same time, Egypt has suggested a counter mortar proposal whereby safe zones for Palestinian refugees can be established in Gaza so that 47 million tons of rubble can be removed, and the strip can be rebuilt. However, the World Bank report notes that Israel’s continuous restriction on the movement of people and goods, coupled with the uncertainty on Gaza’s fate is making large-scale recovery impossible.
In the immediate term, the report suggests the reconstruction of critical infrastructural services, debris clean up, and the construction of permanent settlements for Gaza’s 1.9 million internally displaced citizens. Over the next few years, priority should be given to the construction of additional new units, money aid, and the restoration of partially destroyed homes. Some of the most at risk families may require transitional housing, but any temporary accommodation must be subject to having a well-defined policy to return to the original settlements.
Palestinian architects have been raising their voices in favor of Palestinian-oriented reconstruction ever since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict on October 7, 2023. In their view, reconstruction should be a participatory exercise embracing those whose homes, neighborhoods, and communities were destroyed.
