$18.5bn cost of infrastructure damage in Gaza, UN-World Bank report finds

Gaza has suffered $18.5 billion worth of damage to buildings and vital infrastructure, a joint report by the United Nations and the World Bank revealed yesterday.

This, the international bodies said, is equivalent to 97 per cent of the combined GDP of the occupied West Bank and Gaza for the year 2022.

The World Bank said the “Interim Damage Assessment” report used remote data collection sources to estimate the damages to the physical infrastructure in vital sectors between October 2023 and the end of January 2024.

“The report finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy,” they said.

The report concludes that damages to infrastructure facilities impact all sectors of the economy, with residential buildings accounting for 72 per cent of the cost, while infrastructure for public services such as water, health and education account for 19 per cent, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for nine  per cent of this cost.

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