As the Gaza Strip lies in ruins from Israel’s ongoing military offensive, the task of rebuilding the Palestinian enclave will be one of the most formidable reconstruction efforts in modern history.

Since 7 October, 2023, Israeli relentless air strikes and bombardments have decimated Gaza’s infrastructure, leaving its 2.3 million residents facing catastrophic suffering and destruction.

Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 157,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and reduced to rubble thousands of homes, schools and hospitals. Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and ex-Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant.

Now, following a recently brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, global attention turns towards the daunting challenge of reconstructing Gaza.

The agreement’s third phase prioritises rebuilding Gaza under the supervision of several countries and organisations, and experts caution that the road ahead is fraught with complex obstacles – from the logistical nightmare of debris removal to the enormous financial burden of reconstruction.

WATCH: ‘We will rebuild & make Gaza even more beautiful’

Covering just 360 square kilometres (139 square miles), the Gaza Strip has endured destruction reminiscent of the world’s most devastating wartime events, such as the bombing of Dresden in World War II or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

A damage assessment from the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) in September reported that two-thirds of all structures in Gaza had sustained damage.

“Those 66 per cent of damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip account for 163,778 structures in total. This includes 52,564 structures that have been destroyed, 18,913 severely damaged, 35,591 possibly damaged structures, and 56,710 moderately affected,” read the report.

The UNOSAT assessment in September had Gaza governorate as the worst affected region, with 46,370 structures impacted, while Gaza City had 36,611 structures damaged, including 8,578 totally destroyed.

A previous UN report in April 2024 estimated that around 370,000 housing units had been damaged by Israeli bombardment, with 79,000 completely destroyed.

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, has separately said that more than 60-70 per cent of Gaza’s........

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