Rebuilding Gaza may take close to a century – for real

90% of Gazans have been displaced by the current war, with 70% of homes destroyed or damaged.

By World Israel News Staff

More than two-thirds of all housing units in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged in the current war, according to a report published Thursday by the RAND Corporation, which cited estimates that it could take as long as 80 years to rehabilitate and rebuild the coastal enclave.

Thursday’s report noted that 90% of Gaza’s pre-war population, estimated by the Palestinian Authority census at 2.2 million, has been displaced by the conflict with Israel since October 7, 2023.

Among those displaced are over 115,000 Gazans who left the Gaza Strip by June 2024, though it is unclear how many of them plan to remain abroad.

Reports published by Israeli media outlets this week, including one by Channel 12, claimed that 35,000 Gazans permanently settled abroad after October 7.

Some 70% of housing units have been destroyed or damaged, along with over 80% of commercial buildings. Two-thirds of Gaza’s roads have been damaged or destroyed.

Based on the pace of construction in Gaza after previous conflicts with Israel, the RAND Corporation estimates that it would take 80 years to rehabilitate the area and rebuild the 79,000 housing units that were completely destroyed, without factoring in the 290,000 damaged housing units that would need to be repaired.

The estimate is based on figures collected by the United Nations, which noted that on average, only 992 housing units were rebuilt per year after the 2014 and 2021 conflicts with Israel.

Further complicating Gaza’s reconstruction are the 42 million tons of rubble and scattered bombs, mines and other hazards that would all have to be cleared before large-scale rebuilding could commence.

Even under an ideal scenario, with construction rates five times those hitherto observed in the reconstruction of housing after conflicts with Israel, it would still take a least 15 years just to rebuild the homes destroyed in Gaza, the report said, without addressing the damaged housing units.

On February 4, President Donald Trump, citing the difficult conditions in the Gaza Strip, announced his plans to facilitate the mass migration of the Gaza Strip’s entire population to third-party countries. After Gazans have been resettled abroad, Trump said, the U.S. would assume control over the coastal enclave and take responsibility for its reconstruction.