Rebuilding ‘human-made abyss’ in Gaza will price not less than $70bn, UN says

[ad_1] Israel’s warfare in Gaza has created a “human-made abyss”, and reconstruction is more likely to price greater than $70bn (£53bn) over a number of a long time, the United Nations has mentioned.

The UN’s commerce and improvement company (Unctad) mentioned in a report that Israel’s army operations had “considerably undermined each pillar of survival” and that the whole inhabitants of two.3 million folks confronted “excessive, multidimensional impoverishment”.

The report mentioned Gaza’s economic system had contracted by 87% over the course of 2023-2024, leaving its gross home product (GDP) per capita at simply $161, among the many lowest globally.

The report additionally discovered that “violence, accelerated settlement growth and restrictions on employee mobility” hd “decimated the economic system” within the West Financial institution.

“Plummeting revenues and the withholding of fiscal transfers by the Israeli authorities have severely constrained the Palestinian authorities’s capability to take care of important public providers and put money into restoration,” it mentioned. “This comes at a important time when large spending is required to rebuild shattered infrastructure and tackle worsening environmental and socioeconomic crises.”

The report discovered that the steepest financial contraction on file had worn out a long time of progress throughout the West Financial institution and Gaza.

“By the tip of 2024, Palestinian GDP fell again to its 2010 stage whereas GDP per capita returned to that of 2003, erasing 22 years of improvement progress in lower than two years,” it mentioned.

<gu-island name="InteractiveBlockComponent" priority="critical" deferuntil="idle" props="{"url":"https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2025/10/rubble-zip/giv-32554z513JP3kLHnO/","scriptUrl":"https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/iframe-wrapper/0.1/boot.js","alt":"Gaza debris map","role":"showcase","format":{"design":0,"display":0,"theme":0},"elementId":"38fc9e3a-657a-499e-aebe-13300d54f371","isMainMedia":false}" data-spacefinder-role="showcase"> Gaza debris map “Even with substantial assist, restoration to pre-October 2023 GDP ranges might take a long time.”

A US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas got here into impact in October after two years of hostilities, and although fragile it has held. The Gaza well being ministry mentioned on Monday that not less than 342 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli hearth because the begin of the truce. Israel says three of its troopers have been killed by militant gunfire in the identical interval.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller allied militant faction, mentioned on Tuesday that they had been making ready handy over the stays of one other Israeli hostage consistent with the phrases of the ceasefire deal. A spokesperson for Islamic Jihad mentioned the physique of the hostage had been discovered on Monday throughout search operations in central Gaza.

Israel mentioned the delay in handing over the stays was a violation of the ceasefire.

There's little readability about how the challenges of implementing the extra speedy necessities of Donald Trump ’s 20-point plan for Gaza can be met, not to mention longer-term questions of reconstruction.

The 2-year warfare in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 folks, principally civilians, and kidnapped 251 throughout a shock incursion into Israel on 7 October 2023. Greater than 69,000 Palestinians, principally civilians, had been killed within the ensuing Israeli offensive and in strikes because the ceasefire. The our bodies of 1000's extra remain under the rubble .

<gu-island name="InteractiveBlockComponent" priority="critical" deferuntil="idle" props="{"url":"https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2025/10/roads-zip/giv-32554N8wcJ4k3WCJX/","scriptUrl":"https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/iframe-wrapper/0.1/boot.js","alt":"Road network damage in Gaza","role":"showcase","format":{"design":0,"display":0,"theme":0},"elementId":"5a318635-4555-4e9c-993b-1d2669928c81","isMainMedia":false}" data-spacefinder-role="showcase"> Road network damage in Gaza Situations in Gaza, which has been successfully cut up because the ceasefire with Israeli army forces controlling simply over half of the territory, are extremely difficult.

In its most up-to-date replace, the World Meals Programme (WFP) mentioned most households in Gaza had been unable to afford primary meals objects. It mentioned costs had dropped steeply in current weeks, however the amount of meals consumed every day was nonetheless effectively under pre-war ranges.

Diets are dominated by cereals, pulses and average quantities of dairy and oil, with very restricted meat, greens and fruit, the WFP mentioned, whereas cooking fuel was scarce, forcing many households to depend on burning discarded plastic or different various fuels to prepare dinner.

For the reason that begin of the ceasefire, Hamas has launched all of the 20 residing hostages it was holding and returned the stays of all however three of the 25 useless hostages. In change, Israel has launched almost 2,000 prisoners in its custody and returned the our bodies of tons of of useless Palestinians.

The UN safety council gave formal backing final week to Trump’s plan, which requires an interim technocratic Palestinian authorities in Gaza, overseen by a global “board of peace” and backed by a global safety power.

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