If the war in Gaza stopped today, it would still take until 2040 to rebuild all the homes destroyed in Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives, according to UN estimates.
“Every additional day that this war continues is exacting huge and compounding costs to Gazans and all Palestinians,” said UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner. At least 370,000 housing units in Gaza have been damaged, including 79,000 destroyed completely, according to a new report by the UNDP and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
After previous wars on Gaza, housing was rebuilt at a rate of 992 units year. Even if Israel allows a five-fold increase of construction material to enter Gaza, it would take until 2040 to rebuild the destroyed houses, without repairing the damaged ones, the report said. (Agencies)
