The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed development in the besieged Strip back by 60 years, with reconstruction costs expected to reach tens of billions of dollars, the United Nations has warned.

Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), made the comments during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Steiner noted that the war has caused damage to around two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings, estimating that between 65% and 70% of structures have been completely or partially destroyed. Removing the estimated 42 million tonnes of rubble will be both hazardous and highly complex, he added.

“But we’re also talking about an economy that has been destroyed, where we estimate that roughly 60 years of development have been lost in this conflict over 15 months,” Steiner said.

Devastating impact of the Israeli war on public infrastructure 

The head of the UNDP emphasized the devastating impact on Gaza’s 2 million residents, who have not only lost their homes but also critical public infrastructure.

“They’ve lost public infrastructure, sewage treatment systems, freshwater supply systems, public waste management. All of these fundamental infrastructure and service elements simply do not exist,” he explained.

Steiner also remarked that while the scale of destruction can be measured, “no one can capture human desperation in statistics for all these towering numbers.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, he highlighted the challenges of rebuilding Gaza, citing the "volatile" ceasefire and the UN’s immediate focus on delivering life-saving aid. He stressed that reconstructing Gaza would be a long-term effort.

"When we talk about reconstruction, we are not talking about one or two years here. We are talking about years and years, until you even come close to rebuilding, first of all, the physical infrastructure, but it's also an entire economy," he emphasized.

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Steiner pointed out the extensive losses suffered by Gaza's residents, stating, "People had savings. People had loans. People had invested in businesses. And all of this is lost. So we are talking about the physical and economic, and in some ways even the psychosocial phase for reconstruction."

He estimated that tens of billions of dollars would be needed for the physical reconstruction alone and acknowledged the difficulty in securing such large-scale funding. "We do face an enormous uphill struggle on how to mobilize that scale of finance," he said.

The UN official warned that the scale of the challenge could grow as the estimated volume of rubble increases. "This is not a simple undertaking of just loading it and transporting it somewhere. This rubble is dangerous. There are often still bodies that may not have been recovered. There's unexploded ordnance, landmines," Steiner explained.

However, he noted that rubble could be recycled and used in the rebuilding process, providing some materials for reconstruction.

Steiner also stressed the need for extensive temporary infrastructure if the ceasefire holds and stabilizes. "Virtually every school and every hospital has been either severely damaged or destroyed. It's an extraordinary physical destruction that has happened," he said.

Gaza lying in ruins: 14-year path to recovery amid mass displacement

As the war on Gaza winds down, international donors are assessing the immense Israeli destruction in the densely populated territory and considering future reconstruction efforts, as highlighted in a report by The Times earlier this month.

The scale of devastation is staggering: the Israeli aggression, which Gaza's Health Ministry reports has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, has left behind more than 50.8 million tonnes of rubble—surpassing the debris from the war in Ukraine and amounting to 17 times the combined total of debris from all wars since 2008.

15 months of utter destruction.

The Israeli war on #Gaza has rendered the Strip uninhabitable through its relentless bombing campaigns against the innocent Palestinian people.#GazaGenocide#Palestine pic.twitter.com/dCKRdgZi2U

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 16, 2025

Clearing this debris alone is projected to cost $970,945,431, while the overall reconstruction is estimated to require up to $80 billion.

Two-thirds of the territory, home to 2.1 million people, has been damaged or destroyed, including vital infrastructure. According to the UN, only 16 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals remain partially operational. Clearing the rubble could take over 14 years, and rebuilding homes may extend until 2040. With 90% of the population displaced, many residents are now living in tents. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out, alongside schools, hospitals, and sewage systems.

At least 57% of Gaza’s water infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, including desalination plants in the north and central regions.

“For each square meter in the Gaza Strip, there is now over 107kg of debris, which may contain UXO [unexploded ordnance], hazardous substances and human remains. The total amount of debris from the current conflict in Gaza is more than five times the quantity of debris generated from the 2017 Isil conflict in Mosul (7.65 million tons),” stated a report from June 2024, just eight months into the war.