Gaza rebuilds: $53B pursuit amid bold U.S. plans

"The report estimates the recovery and reconstruction needs in the short, medium and long term across the Gaza Strip at $53.142 billion. Of these, the near-term needs in the first three years are estimated to be around $20.568 billion," wrote UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a report to the General Assembly.

In a resolution adopted in December 2024, calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Assembly asked the Secretary-General to present an assessment of the short-term, medium-term, and long-term needs of the Gaza Strip within two months.

Although it was not possible in the current situation to fully assess the entire scope of needs in the Gaza Strip, a rapid temporary assessment provides preliminary indications of the considerable scale of rebuilding needs for this territory, the report emphasized.

According to the report, which notes that as of October 2023, "over 60% of homes" have been destroyed, the housing sector will require about 30% of the funds needed for reconstruction, totaling $15.2 billion.

The following sectors have significant funding needs as well: trade and industry ($7 billion), healthcare ($7 billion), agriculture ($4 billion), social protection ($4 billion), transport ($3 billion), water and sanitation infrastructure ($3 billion), and education ($3 billion).

The report also highlights particularly high costs for the environmental protection sector ($2 billion), "due to the large amount of debris containing unexploded ordnance and high costs associated with debris removal."

The UN estimates that as a result of the conflict, "more than 50 million tons of debris have been generated in Gaza because of the conflict, within which human remains are buried alongside unexploded ordnance, asbestos and other hazardous substances."

Guterres also emphasized that "any viable recovery and reconstruction efforts must be firmly rooted in a broader political and security framework that can address the effects of the war and the humanitarian catastrophe and lay the foundations for rebuilding Gaza as an integral part of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State."

"Critically, the Palestinian Authority must be at the centre of planning for and the implementation of recovery and reconstruction in Gaza," wrote Guterres in the report, which was completed on January 30, prior to the declaration by U.S. President Donald Trump, who announced he wants to 'take possession' of this territory.

The American President shocked the Middle East and the rest of the world with his declaration that the United States will take control of the Gaza Strip. His plan is straightforward: he would like to drive the Palestinians from this territory and transform it into the "Middle Eastern Riviera."

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip," announced U.S. President Donald Trump at the beginning of February during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He declared that the United States would level this area and create "unlimited numbers of jobs" there.

He clarified that according to his "strong recommendation," the Gaza Strip would belong to the United States long-term, and he did not exclude sending American soldiers there.

He added that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip "should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there" again, and for the residents, it only means "death and destruction." He stated that they should be relocated to neighboring Arab countries, which would build housing for them at their own cost in "peace and harmony."