Destruction in Rafah in southern Gaza. Six months of war in Gaza: UN plans reconstruction and recovery Peace and Security
In the six months of war in Gaza, which began after Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7 last year, more than 33,000 people have died, nearly 90 percent of medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed, and, according to the World Health Organization, bank, more than a million Palestinians were left homeless.
“Rarely have we seen such outrage around the world at the scale of the conflict and how little has seemingly been done to end it and fight impunity,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said in a statement released Saturday. on the occasion of six months since the start of the confrontation.
Looking into the future
It is still unclear how much more destruction and deaths await the population of Gaza before peace is established in the enclave. However, in this uncertain environment, UN agencies are already strategizing for the future.
The sector has almost completely destroyed economic activity, said Aya Jaafar, an economist at the International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO estimates that more than 200,000 jobs have been lost in Gaza, representing about 90 percent of the entire pre-conflict labor market. The UN agency also estimated that revenue losses there reached $4.1 million per day, representing an 80 percent decline in the enclave’s GDP.
Construction was one of the most important industries in Gaza, but activity in that sector is down by about 96 percent, according to the ILO. Other key productive sectors, including agriculture, industry and services, also virtually ceased to exist.
Only a few bakeries operate in Gaza.
The ILO estimates that about 25 percent of those killed in Gaza were men of working age, and women there generally do not work. Jaafar stressed that the loss of breadwinners would mean that families would face difficulties after the end of the war. It also raises concerns about the potential exploitation of child labor.
Employment programs will be critical after the war, Jaafar said. It is expected that businesses will need grants and wage subsidies as part of the process of reviving local economies. infrastructure.
Restarting local production
Access to food remains a critical humanitarian issue, especially in the north of the sector.
According to the representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Abdel Hakim Elwaer, before the conflict, agriculture and fishing flourished in Gaza, and the population could also partially provide themselves with fruits and vegetables.
Now nearly half of all agricultural land has been destroyed and the private sector’s import supply chain has been disrupted, Elvaer stressed.
Feed for the remaining livestock, which some Gazans are reportedly eating themselves, due to the lack of other food, is not enough. The FAO noted that it took three months to obtain approval from the Israeli authorities for the supply of 500 tons of feed.
The people of Gaza will need humanitarian assistance for many years to come.
“Gazans are ready to resume local production,” Elvaer said, “but they need seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.”
Revitalizing the commercial agricultural sector to pre-October 7 levels will be a challenge. The FAO representative believes that humanitarian assistance will be needed for at least two years until “a certain level of stability, trust and confidence” is achieved that will allow people to return to their businesses.
Reconstruction Costs and Timeline
It is too early to say how much it will cost to rebuild Gaza as destruction continues.
However, according to Rami Alazze of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), it will take decades, as well as the will of the international community and an investment of tens of billions of dollars, to revive Gaza.
The World Bank estimates the cost of property damage through the end of January 2024 alone at $18.5 billion. This figure does not include the cost of humanitarian support to people. In addition, unexploded bombs will have to be cleared throughout the enclave, which will take years, according to the UN Mine Action Service.
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Great uncertainty
It is not yet clear whether there will be money has been allocated for reconstruction, and there are several other important “will it be”.
Will restoration begin immediately after the end of hostilities; whether the Israeli blockade, which has been in effect for 18 years, will be ended; whether Gaza can sustain 10 percent growth in the coming years, the rate of development that will be needed until 2035 to “return to the state it was in before the 2006 blockade.” Experts are asking all these questions today.
Destruction in the Gaza Strip.
However, in a worst-case scenario, if the economy grows at 0.4 percent annually as it has in recent years, it will take Gaza seven decades just to return to 2022 economic levels, Alazze said.
“We have to give people hope for the future again, and I think that can only be done through a comprehensive political plan that includes a two-state solution,” he said.