Cairo, Egypt – As the Gaza Strip lies in ruins from Israel’s military offensive, the task of rebuilding the Palestinian enclave will be one of the most formidable reconstruction efforts in modern history.

Billions of dollars and decades of efforts will be needed, experts have opined, to rebuild Gaza after the devastation inflicted by Israel since October 2023.

Relentless Israeli airstrikes and bombardments have decimated Gaza’s infrastructure, leaving its 2.3mn residents facing catastrophic suffering and destruction.

Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 157,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and reduced to rubble thousands of homes, schools and hospitals.

Following the recent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, global attention has now turned towards the daunting challenge of reconstructing Gaza.

Scale of destruction

Covering just 360sqkm, the Gaza Strip has endured destruction reminiscent of the world’s most devastating wartime events.

UN Satellite Centre, in collaboration with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, found that ‘approximately 68% of permanent crop fields in the Gaza Strip exhibited a significant decline in health and density in September 2024’.

An assessment by the UN Conference on Trade and Development in early 2024 found that ‘between 80% to 96% of Gaza’s agricultural assets had been decimated, including irrigation systems, livestock farms, orchards, machinery and storage facilities’. 

Costs and time

In September, the Arab States Regional Bureau of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) projected the total reconstruction cost at over US$40bn. The initial recovery phase alone – restoring basic services and infrastructure – is expected to cost US$2bn-  US$3bn and take three to five years.

The UNDP predicts that housing reconstruction alone would take until 2040. This estimate does not account for rebuilding hospitals, schools, power plants and water systems. Experts agree that Gaza’s reconstruction will be severely hindered by the Israeli blockade, which restricts the entry of essential construction materials.

The safety of returning residents poses another challenge. The UN Mine Action Service estimates that 7,500 tonnes of unexploded ordnance remain scattered across Gaza, clearing which could take up to 14 years.

Agencies