At Least $53 Billion Needed to Rebuild Gaza, UN Estimates

 This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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At Least $53 Billion Needed to Rebuild Gaza, UN Estimates

 This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This picture shows the destroyed Blue Beach Resort in northern Gaza City, on February 11, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

More than $53 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and end the "humanitarian catastrophe" that has gripped the war-ravaged territory, including $20 billion in the first three years, according to a United Nations estimate released Tuesday.

"While it has not been possible in the current environment to fully assess the totality of needs that will be required in Gaza, the interim assessment offers an early indication of the enormous scale of recovery and reconstruction needs in the Gaza Strip," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report.

The Gaza war has been paused since mid-January under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last 16 months, the Gaza health ministry says, and nearly all of Gaza's population has been internally displaced by the conflict, which has caused a hunger crisis.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities and about 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages, Israeli tallies show.



Human Rights Watch Says Houthi Attacks on Red Sea Vessels Amount to War Crimes 

Houthi supporters hold up weapons during a protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)
Houthi supporters hold up weapons during a protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)
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Human Rights Watch Says Houthi Attacks on Red Sea Vessels Amount to War Crimes 

Houthi supporters hold up weapons during a protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)
Houthi supporters hold up weapons during a protest against the US and Israel, in Sanaa, Yemen, 18 July 2025. (EPA)

The Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen attacked two ships, the Magic Seas and the Eternity C, on July 6 and 9, killing some of their crew and detaining others, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Wednesday.

The militants have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

HRW, however, said the Houthis’ attacks on the two vessels “violates the laws of war applicable to the armed conflict between the Houthis and Israel.”

“The Houthis have sought to justify unlawful attacks by pointing to Israeli violations against Palestinians,” said Niku Jafarnia, HRW’s Yemen and Bahrain researcher.

Jafarnia called for the Houthis to end all attacks on ships that don’t take part in the Israeli-Hamas war and immediately release detained crew members.