Rebuilding Homes In Gaza Will Cost $40bn And Take Until 2040, UN Says

Rebuilding homes in Gaza destroyed during Israel's seven-month military offensive could take until 2040 in the most optimistic scenario, with total reconstruction across the territory costing as much as $40bn (£32bn), according to United Nations experts.

- Jason Burke, Lorenzo Tondo

An assessment, which is to be published by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as part of a push to raise funds for early planning for the rehabilitation of Gaza, has also found that the conflict may reduce levels of health, education and wealth in the territory to those of 1980, wiping out 44 years of development.

Expectations of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks in Cairo between Israel and Hamas have cooled in recent days, and many observers believe the conflict is likely to continue for many months or even longer.

According to Hamas-run Gaza health authorities, more than 34,500 people, mostly women and children, have died since Israel launched its offensive after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people. The militant Islamist organisation, which took power in Gaza in 2007, also seized 250 hostages.

More than 79,000 homes in Gaza have been "completely destroyed" in the conflict, with another 370,000 damaged, the new assessment found.

"Even under optimistic scenarios for the pace of physical reconstruction, the scale of destruction in Gaza has been such that, simply from the narrow perspective of moving in building materials, it would still take until 2040 and probably longer to restore the housing units destroyed since the start of the war," the researchers concluded.