The chairman of the Palestinian Funding Fund estimated Wednesday that it might value a minimum of $15 billion to rebuild destroyed houses within the Gaza Strip.
Mohammad Mustafa, chairman of the fund — a state-owned firm managed by the Palestinian Authority within the West Financial institution — mentioned throughout a lecture on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, that it might value about $100,000 to rebuild a single housing unit. and a minimum of 350,000 houses have been broken or destroyed. Rebuilding even half of it might value $15 billion, he mentioned.
Mr Mustafa didn’t say how he arrived at his estimates, though he mentioned the variety of items destroyed was based mostly on “worldwide studies”.
Mr Mustafa, when requested, declined to provide a determine for the whole price ticket for Gaza’s rehabilitation, saying it was too early to provide an estimate. He additionally mentioned that rebuilding Gaza would require rebuilding broken or destroyed hospitals and different infrastructure, not simply housing.
Like different Palestinian officers, Mr. Mustafa additionally mentioned that reconstruction can solely start after the dire humanitarian disaster in Gaza abates and Israel ends its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
“The monetary wants are huge, however once more, as we mentioned earlier than, that cash is not going to clear up Gaza’s issues,” he mentioned, chatting with a room of about 60 individuals. “It can take greater than that. Political options are wanted, but additionally a logistics revolution.”
Israel’s army marketing campaign in Gaza has lowered many cities within the enclave to rubble and has killed greater than 24,000 Palestinians, in keeping with Gaza well being officers.
Because the begin of the warfare on October 7, when Hamas attacked Israeli cities and killed 1,200 individuals, Israeli airstrikes have leveled many neighborhoods within the Gaza Strip, particularly within the north.
Israeli tanks have bulldozed farming communities and houses have been demolished by Israeli troopers, in keeping with video and satellite tv for pc footage verified by The New York Occasions. The United Nations estimated in mid-December that, based mostly on satellite tv for pc photos, about 60 p.c of houses in Gaza had been broken or destroyed.
It stays unclear who will govern Gaza after the warfare, not to mention who will oversee and pay for its reconstruction. The USA has proposed letting the Palestinian Authority handle the enclave, because it does in elements of the West Financial institution, however the Israeli authorities has not agreed and has insisted that Israel should preserve management over safety there.
Final week, Antony J. Blinken, the US Secretary of State, mentioned after a spherical of shuttle diplomacy that Arab international locations haven’t agreed to pay for Gaza’s reconstruction, though they might think about doing so if Israel agrees to a path to a Palestinian state. Qatar was beforehand a serious financier in Gaza’s reconstruction efforts.
Each Palestinian and Israeli officers have mentioned it is going to take a world effort to rebuild Gaza.
Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant just lately referred to as for a “multinational job pressure” to supervise Gaza’s post-war reconstruction and financial growth, if Israel have been to defeat Hamas. On Tuesday, a Palestinian diplomat accused Israel of attempting to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and mentioned reconstruction would require a “large worldwide humanitarian effort.”
