80 years and $40bln needed for Gaza reconstruction: UNDP

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
3 May 2024 14:51

A report by the UNDP has revealed that "Israel's" genocide wiped out four decades of investments in Gaza.

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on residential buildings and a mosque in Rafah, Gaza Strip, February 22, 2024. (AP)

Abdallah al-Dardari, the UN assistant secretary-general and director of the UN Development Program’s (UNDP) regional office for the Arab states, stated that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip could take 80 years and $40 billion.

Speaking at a conference in Amman, Jordan, al-Dardari said the damage caused by "Israel" in Gaza has not been seen since the Second World War.

“The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented…This is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since World War II,” he stated, noting that reconstruction estimates could very possibly exceed $30 billion and reach $40 billion.

Currently, Gaza is buried beneath 37 million tons of rubble that only keeps piling on due to the occupation's relentless and deliberate destruction.

According to the UN official, reconstructing Gaza's fully destroyed complexes to rehabilitate it would take up to 80 years, assuming the pace equals that during previous wars in the Strip. It is worth noting that 72% of residential buildings have either been completely or partially destroyed over seven months since the occupation launched its onslaught.

Al-Dardari called on the international community to prioritize a meticulous housing plan for Gaza, which should reportedly be achieved in the first three years following the end of the war.

"Israel", according to the UNDP director, bombed Gaza back to the 1980s, destroying at least four decades' worth of international investments.

58.4% of Gazans forced into poverty

On Thursday, the UNDP issued a joint economic report with the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), revealing that more than half of Gaza's population is grappling with poverty as a result of the war.

Since October, the Gazan poverty rate has spiked to 58.4%, essentially pushing an additional 1.74 million people, out of 2.2 million, into poverty.

This comes amid a 26.9% plunge in the Palestinian GDP, resulting in a loss of $7.1 billion, compared to 2023.

The evaluation also forecasted that if the war persisted for nine months, the poverty rate could potentially increase to over 60.7%, while the GDP might suffer an additional decline of 29 percent.

Simultaneously, the report stated that Gaza would be set back by 44 years by the ninth month of the genocide, should it proceed.

UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner also cautioned that the ongoing war was imposing significant and accumulating costs on Gazans and Palestinians, both in the present and in the foreseeable future.

Due to the ongoing Israeli genocidal war, at least 5% of the population has either been killed or injured as of mid-April.

Moreover, it was emphasized that approximately 7,000 individuals remain unaccounted for in Gaza.