Gaza Needs $71.4 Billion for Recovery as Genocide Sets Development Back 77 Years

This article was originally published in Common Dreams under Creative Commons 3.0 license. Read the original article. Contact: editor@commondreams.org

By Brett Wilkins

A joint assessment published Monday by the European Union, United Nations, and World Bank found that an estimated $71.4 billion is needed over the next decade for recovery and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, where 30 months of Israeli genocide has set human development back by an entire lifetime.

The Gaza Strip Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) states that the $71.4 billion figure includes an estimated $26.3 billion required over the next 18 months “to restore essential service, rebuild critical infrastructure, and support economic recovery.”

“Physical infrastructure damages are estimated at $35.2 billion, with economic and social losses amounting to $22.7 billion,” the report continues. “The hardest-hit sectors include housing, health, education, commerce, and agriculture. Over 371,888 housing units have been destroyed or damaged, more than 50% of hospitals are nonfunctional, nearly all schools destroyed or damaged, and the economy has contracted by 84% in Gaza.”

“Catastrophic impact on human development across Gaza... is estimated to have been set back by 77 years,” the RDNA states. “Around 1.9 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, and more than 60% of the population has lost their homes.”

“Women, children, persons with disabilities, and those with preexisting vulnerabilities bear the greatest burden,” the publication adds.

See Also: What Will a Rebuilt Gaza Look Like? The Competing Visions for the Strip’s Future

The new analysis follows a November 2025 UN Conference on Trade and Development report that found Israel’s assault on Gaza has caused “the most severe economic crisis ever recorded.”

The Israeli war has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing; the strip in ruins; and most of its approximately 2 million people forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened.

“Over two years of conflict has resulted in more than 71,000 Palestinian fatalities and over 171,000 injured, and many are missing under the rubble,” the report notes.

With the vast majority of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed, separate UN analyses have estimated that it could take as many as 80 years to rebuild the obliterated coastal exclave.

So far, roughly $17 billion in pledged funding has been announced through the so-called “Board of Peace” launched by US President Donald Trump, whose ideas for rebuilding Gaza have included kicking Palestinians out and turning the strip into what he called the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Only a “tiny fraction” of that already inadequate $17 billion has been received, Reuters reported earlier this month.

[DS]

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