UN: Gaza reconstruction could take 80 years!

UN housing expert Balakrishnan Rajagopal said Gaza has been subjected to an unprecedented barrage of destruction since Tel Aviv launched its military offensive following Hamas’s attack on the occupation on October 7 last year.

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN independent investigator on the right to adequate housing, told reporters that the brutality of the destruction in Gaza was not seen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.

Rajagopal continued that by January 2024, between 60% and 70% of all homes in Gaza had been destroyed, and in northern Gaza the figure was 82% of homes.

“It’s much worse now,” he added, especially in the north, where the destruction rate is approaching 100%.

Rajagopal said a recent report by the United Nations Development Program estimated that in May there were more than 39 million tons of debris in Gaza, which he said was mixed with unexploded ordnance, toxic waste, asbestos from collapsed buildings and other materials.

He said that groundwater pollution and soil pollution have reached such a catastrophic situation that we don’t know if they can be treated in time so that people can return at least within this generation.

Asked how long it would take to rebuild Gaza, Rajagopal said that first the rubble must be removed, second there must be funding, and then there is another big problem, as reconstruction can only take place if the occupation ends.

He said this situation is due to Tel Aviv imposing restrictions on construction materials and equipment, which it claims have dual uses.

After the 2014 war in Gaza, fewer than a thousand homes were being built each year, Rajagopal said.

He added that the United Nations Development Program estimated that 80,000 homes were destroyed in the current war, so the reconstruction process will take 80 years if the occupation continues.