Palestinians rest at the rubble of a residential building destroyed by Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip, April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Rebuilding Gaza’s shattered homes will take at least until 2040 but could drag on for many decades, according to a U.N. report released on Thursday.
Nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment have caused billions of dollars in damage, leaving many of the crowded strip’s high-rise concrete buildings reduced to heaps, with a U.N. official referring to a “moonscape” of destruction.
Palestinian data, opens new tab shows that about 80,000 homes have been destroyed in a conflict triggered by Hamas fighters’ deadly attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israeli strikes have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
But the U.N. Development Programme assessment notes that Gaza would need “approximately 80 years to restore all the fully destroyed housing units” under a scenario assuming the pace of reconstruction follows the trend of several previous Gaza conflicts.
A separate report based on satellite images analysed by the United Nations showed that 85.8% of schools in Gaza had suffered some level of damage since Oct. 7. Over 70% of schools will require major or full reconstruction, the U.N. statement added.
“Unprecedented levels of human losses, capital destruction, and the steep rise in poverty in such a short period of time will precipitate a serious development crisis that jeopardises the future of generations to come,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner in a statement.
In a scenario where the war lasts nine months, poverty is set to increase from 38.8% of Gaza’s population at the end of 2023 to 60.7%, dragging a large portion of the middle class below the poverty line, the report said.
Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Nick Macfie, William Maclean
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