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War-Ravaged Gaza Faces Multi-Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge

Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the US Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP)
Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the US Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP)
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War-Ravaged Gaza Faces Multi-Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge

Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the US Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP)
Destroyed buildings are seen through the window of an airplane from the US Air Force overflying the Gaza Strip, on March 14, 2024. (AP)

Billions of dollars will be needed to rebuild Gaza after the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, according to assessments from the United Nations.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in the enclave and swap Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the agreement said on Wednesday.

Here is a breakdown of the destruction in Gaza from the conflict prompted by the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, which at the time ruled the Palestinian enclave.

HOW MANY CASUALTIES ARE THERE?

The Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's retaliation has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza's health ministry.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO CLEAR THE RUBBLE?

The United Nations warned in October that removing 42 million tons of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel's bombardment could take years and cost $1.2 billion. A UN estimate from April 2024 suggested it would take 14 years to clear the rubble.

The debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, with some refugee camps struck during the war known to have been built with the material. The rubble also likely holds human remains. The Palestinian Ministry of Health estimated in May that 10,000 bodies were missing under the debris.

HOW MANY BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED?

Rebuilding Gaza's shattered homes will take at least until 2040, but could drag on for many decades, according to a UN report released last year.

Two-thirds of Gaza's pre-war structures - over 170,000 buildings - have been damaged or flattened, according to UN satellite data (UNOSAT) in December. That amounts to around 69% of the total structures of the Gaza Strip.

Within the count are a total of 245,123 housing units, according to an estimate from UNOSAT. Currently, over 1.8 million people are in need of emergency shelter in Gaza, the UN humanitarian office said.

WHAT IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE DAMAGE?

The estimated damage to infrastructure totaled $18.5 billion as of end-January 2024, affecting residential buildings, commerce, industry, and essential services such as education, health, and energy, a UN-World Bank report said.

An update by the UN humanitarian office this month showed that less than a quarter of the pre-war water supplies were available, while at least 68% of the road network has been damaged.

HOW WILL GAZA FEED ITSELF?

More than half of Gaza's agricultural land, crucial for feeding the war-ravaged territory's hungry population, has been degraded by conflict, satellite images analyzed by the United Nations show.

The data reveals a rise in the destruction of orchards, field crops and vegetables in the Palestinian enclave, where hunger is widespread after 15 months of Israeli bombardment.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said last year that 15,000 cattle, or over 95%, of the total had been slaughtered or died since the conflict began and nearly half the sheep.

WHAT ABOUT SCHOOLS, UNIVERSITIES, RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS?

Palestinian data shows that the conflict has led to the destruction of over 200 government facilities, 136 schools and universities, 823 mosques and three churches. Many hospitals have been damaged during the conflict, with only 17 out of 36 units partially functional as of January, the UN humanitarian office's report showed.

Amnesty International's Crisis Evidence Lab has highlighted the extent of destruction along Gaza's eastern boundary. As of May 2024, over 90% of the buildings in this area, including more than 3,500 structures, were either destroyed or severely damaged.

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Syrians Return to Homes Devastated by War

"We came back in the hope that our home would be different to this," Syrian grandfather Omar Kafozi said - AFP
"We came back in the hope that our home would be different to this," Syrian grandfather Omar Kafozi said - AFP
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Syrians Return to Homes Devastated by War

"We came back in the hope that our home would be different to this," Syrian grandfather Omar Kafozi said - AFP
"We came back in the hope that our home would be different to this," Syrian grandfather Omar Kafozi said - AFP

When Syrian grandfather Omar Kafozi returned to his house near Damascus after Bashar al-Assad's ouster, he saw unfathomable destruction.

Now, cushions and plants brighten the wreckage that he is determined to call home again.

"As soon as we found out that... the regime was gone and that people were coming back... we sorted our things" and packed the car, said Kafozi, 74, standing in the wreckage of his home in a former opposition bastion near the capital.

"I had to come home and stay by any means," he told AFP. "We came back in the hope that our home would be different to this."

Plastic sheeting covers windows in what remains of the home where he and his family are living with no electricity, running water or even a proper bathroom, in the town of Hammuriyeh.

Syria's war began in 2011 when Assad unleashed a crackdown on democracy protests, prompting soldiers to defect from the army and civilians to take up weapons.

When Eastern Ghouta, where Hammuriyeh is located, fell out of Assad's control, the government imposed a siege and launched a ferocious air and ground assault.

Assad's forces were accused of conducting chemical attacks on opposition areas of Eastern Ghouta.

In 2018, tens of thousands of fighters and civilians were bussed to opposition-held northwest Syria under evacuation deals brokered by Assad backer Russia.

Among those who left the area at the time were Kafozi and his family.

His granddaughter Baraa, now eight and carrying a bright pink school bag, "was an infant in our arms" when they left, he said.

Fast-forward to December 2024, Assad was ousted in an offensive spearheaded by opposition militants, allowing displaced Syrians to return to their homes.

Kafozi said that when Baraa first saw the damage, "she just stared and said, 'what's this destroyed house of ours? Why did we come? Let's go back.'"

"I told her, this is our home, we have to come back to it," he said.

- No regrets -

Until their return to Hammuriyeh, his family sought refuge in the northwest and survived a 2023 earthquake that hit Syria and neighbouring Türkiye.

Despite the damage to his home, Kafozi said: "I don't regret coming back."

Outside, children played in the dusty street, while a truck delivered gas bottles and people passed on bicycles.

Next door, Kafozi's nephew Ahmed, 40, has also returned with his wife and four children, but they are staying with relatives because of the damage to their home.

From the shell of a bedroom, the day worker looked out at a bleak landscape of buildings crumpled and torn by bombing.

"Our hope is that there will be reconstruction in the country," he said.

"I don't think an individual effort can bear this, it's too big, the damage in the country is great."

Syria's 13-year-war has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions more and ravaged the country's infrastructure and industry.

Local official Baibars Zein, 46, said bus transport had been arranged for people displaced from Hammuriyeh.

"We've taken around 106 families -- the total number of families that want to come back is around 2,000," he said near a mosque with a damaged minaret.

- 'Oppression is gone' -

Among those who returned was Zein's brother Saria, who left his wife and five children in northwest Syria to try to make their flat inhabitable before they return.

"This damage is from the battle that happened and regime bombardment -- they bombed us with barrels and missiles," said Saria, 47, pointing to cracked walls.

Rights groups documented the extensive use during the war by Assad's army of so-called barrel bombs, an improvised explosive dropped from planes.

To Saria, the devastation was a grim reminder of a 2015 strike that killed his seven-year-old daughter.

His wife narrowly missed being hit by shrapnel that took a chunk out of the wall, he said.

His children "are really excited, they call me and say 'Dad, we want to come back,'" he said.

"We are very very optimistic -- the oppression is gone," he said. "That's the most important thing."