UN says countries are willing to help fund Gaza’s USD70bn reconstruction

GENEVA: European and Arab nations, Canada and the US appear willing to contribute to the estimated $70 billion needed to rebuild Gaza, a UN official said on Tuesday, adding that the two-year war there had produced rubble equal to 13 times the pyramids of Giza.

Jaco Cilliers, an official at the United Nations Development Programme, said Israel’s war against Hamas had generated at least 55 million tons of rubble and that it could take decades for Gaza to fully recover.

“We’ve heard very positive news from a number of our partners, including European partners... Canada” regarding their willingness to help, he told a press conference, adding that there were also discussions with the United States.

Since a ceasefire deal came into effect in Gaza, large numbers of Palestinians have returned to the ruins of their homes in the coastal territory.

Huge swathes of Gaza have been reduced to a wasteland by Israeli bombardment over two years that killed some 68,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.

A large part of the destruction is in Gaza City, scene of some of the fiercest fighting. About 83 percent of all building structures there have been damaged, according to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).

UNDP said it had already cleared some 81,000 tons of rubble from the Gaza Strip and was continuing to do so.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led group attacked the country on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday under the ceasefire deal and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees, as US President Donald Trump declared the end of the two-year-long war.