Gaza post-war housing reconstruction to cost ‘at least $15bn’

At least $15 billion will be needed to rebuild housing in the Gaza Strip, Palestine Investment Fund chairman Mohammed Mustafa said on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum. Much of the besieged enclave has been destroyed by Israel’s bombing of the Palestinians in the coastal enclave.

According to Reuters, Mustafa explained that the Palestinian leadership would, in the short-term, continue to focus on humanitarian aid including food and water but eventually the focus would shift to reconstruction.

Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes, some of them several times, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe, with dangerous shortages of food, fresh water, fuel and medical supplies.

“If the war in Gaza continues, more people are likely to die of hunger or famine than war,” said the PIF chairman. The first steps should be to bring food, medicine, water and electricity back to the besieged territory, he added.

Arab countries are not keen to get involved in the rebuilding of Gaza if the Palestinian enclave will be “levelled” again in a few years, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. He added that they stress the importance of Palestinian statehood for any regional agreement.

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