The United Nations has released a report today stating that rebuilding homes in the Gaza Strip could continue into the next century if the pace follows the trend of previous conflicts, reported Reuters.
The report indicated that nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment have caused billions of dollars in damage with high-rise concrete buildings turned into heaps.
During the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, Palestinian data shows that around 80,000 homes have been destroyed due to Israel’s heavy bombardment.
The U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) has released an assessment confirming that Gaza needs “approximately 80 years to restore all the fully destroyed housing units.”
The assessment highlights a series of projections about the socioeconomic impact of the war based on the duration of the current conflict, anticipating decades of continuous suffering.
“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 jeopardises the future of generations to come,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner in a statement.
However, the report shows a best-case scenario in which construction materials are delivered five times as fast as in the last crisis in 2021. According to this scenario, the process of rebuilding the Strip could be done by 2040.
Furthermore, the report presents another scenario in which the war lasts nine months causing a massive increase in the poverty rates from 38.8% of Gaza’s population at the end of 2023 to 60.7%. This would drag a large number of the middle-class population below the poverty line.
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