UN: It is too early to estimate the cost of rebuilding Gaza as hostilities continue
An economist at the Unit to Assist the Palestinian People at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rami Al-Azza, said that it is too early to determine the cost of rebuilding Gaza as the destruction continues.
Rami Al-Azza added, “It will take decades.” It will take time and the will of the international community to finance tens of billions of dollars in investments for the reconstruction of Gaza. -According to a statement on the United Nations website today, Saturday.
The World Bank estimates the amounts required at 18.5 billion dollars, but this only represents the damage until the end of January 2024. The rebuilding process will be the most expensive (as it represents 72 million dollars). percent of total costs), followed by public service infrastructure such as water, health, and education (19%).
This figure clearly does not include the costs of keeping people alive through humanitarian aid over the next few years. . Deadly unexploded bombs will also have to be removed throughout the Strip, which “will take years,” according to the United Nations Mine Action Service.
He noted that it is not immediately clear whether the funds will be needed for reconstruction. It will come soon, and there are some other big questions.
He explained that if the reconstruction process begins immediately after the end of hostilities, if the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza for 18 years ends, and if Gaza manages to maintain 10 percent growth… In the coming years, it will take until 2035 for the sector to return to what it was before the 2006 blockade.
However, in the worst-case scenario, where the economy grows by 0.4 percent annually, as it was The situation in recent years, Rami Al-Azza believes that it will take Gaza “until 2092, or seven decades, just until it can recover to return to its economic level in 2022.
Politics will also play a role, according to the UNCTAD expert He said: “The cycle of destruction and insufficient reconstruction is not an option for the residents of Gaza.”
He concluded by saying: “We need to restore people’s hope for the future, and I believe that this will only come through a political plan.” Comprehensive, including the two-state solution.
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