Rebuilding Bombed-Out Gaza Could Take Into Next Century: UN
Gaza will need rebuilding on scale not seen since World War 2, the United Nations has said in a new report which seeks to assess the immense scale and scope of damage after almost seven months of war.
The report released by the UN Development Program (UNDP) said that Gaza needs “approximately 80 years to restore all the fully destroyed housing units” and that rebuilding all that’s been destroyed in the Strip could even drag into the next century.
“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 jeopardizes the future of generations to come,” UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said in a statement.
The report tallies that some 80,000 homes have been fully destroyed while at least 370,000 have been damaged. The UN also indicated there’s a possibility that rebuilding could be completed by 2040, but only if “construction materials are delivered five times as fast as in the last crisis in 2021” and if there war were to immediately stop.
“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.”
One UN official referenced in international reports said that Israel’s bombardment of the Strip has resulted in a “moonscape” of destruction.
As of Thursday, Gaza’s Health Ministry says that 34,596 mostly civilians have died since Israel launched its offensive in retaliation for the Hamas terror attacks, while over 77,000 have been wounded. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have tallied some 13,000 militants killed during the operation. Each side disputes these casualty figures.
Meanwhile, at a moment famine threatens to take many more lives, the Pentagon says it is nearly completion of the $320 million floating pier which will get maritime food aid into Gaza.
The Financial Times details, “Hundreds of US troops have spent weeks building the structure that aims to allay the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip, with US naval vessels ferrying specialized equipment to a point about two miles offshore where the aid ships from Cyprus are supposed to dock.”
Interestingly, some officials have criticized this as another mere public spectacle (akin to the prior air drops) and a “waste” of time and funds, per FT:
But international aid groups warn that the JLOTS plan could divert attention from these more efficient land routes and, in any event, would not resolve the more serious problem of damaged roads and lawlessness that has hampered distribution inside the enclave. “It’s a wasteful distraction,” a senior UN official, who requested anonymity, said of the new pier. “There are roads, there are border crossings — there’s [already] aid waiting outside Gaza.”
Israel has been widely accused of blocking much of the vital food aid which has been held up at border crossings. Jordan has also newly accused Israeli settlers of destroying inbound aid under the watch of IDF soldiers…
According to a statement by Jordan's Foreign Ministry, some Israeli settlers reportedly assaulted two Jordanian humanitarian aid convoys en route to Gaza. Despite the attacks, both convoys successfully reached their destinations in the conflict-affected Gaza Strip, having… pic.twitter.com/zeOWf7s9ih
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 2, 2024
As for the Biden administration, it continues to face mounting criticisms that it is aiding and abetting the mass destruction and death in the Gaza Strip by keeping the weapons and billions flowing to Tel Aviv, and with no conditions attached. And given the Netanyahu government is still poised for a ground assault on Rafah, the scorched earth policies look to continue.
