A photo of a man and a woman in Khan Younis in Southern Gaza surrounded
by destroyed buildings.
Khan Younis, southern Gaza in May. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg
THE BIG TAKE
Gaza Reduced to 42 Million Tonnes of Rubble. What Will It Take to Rebuild?
ked ceasefire talks restart in Doha, calls to reconstruct the Strip are
becoming louder
By
Fadwa Hodali
Fares Akram
Jason Kao
Jennah Haque
Jeremy C. F. Lin
Equality
Photography by
Ahmad Salem
Equality
August 15, 2024
Moving through the Gaza Strip to avoid Israeli air strikes, Rana Abu Nassira
often used Google Earth to look at the home she had been forced to
abandon. Unaware that the geobrowser’s imagery does not update in real
time, the 37-year-old was reassured to see the house she shared with her
husband and son had survived the chaos and bombardments of the Israel-
Hamas war.
Google Earth, May 2022
SkySat, March 2024
Reality hit this spring when the family returned to Bani Suheila — a small town
in southern Gaza — and found a desolate and disfigured landscape lacerated
with giant piles of rubble and mangled metal rods.
Their home lay in ruins. Just a single tree was left standing in the garden. “I
was like ‘this is not our neighborhood, this is not our street, or our house,’”
Abu Nassira said. “It was crazy.”
It’s a story repeated across the south of the narrow territory when breaks in
the fighting allow families to leave camps in safe zones and return to their
properties, even if only briefly. Access to areas north of the Netzarim
Corridor — the military road built by Israel in March — is restricted. That is to
allow Israel to pursue its stated goal of seeking out Hamas fighters and
infrastructure, in retaliation for a deadly incursion by the Islamist group —
considered a terrorist organization by the US and European Union — on Oct.
7.
Since then, more than 70% of Gaza’s housing, already depleted in previous
conflicts, has been reported as damaged, along with schools, hospitals and
businesses. Most of its 2.2 million people are displaced, crammed into a tiny
slice of land along the Mediterranean coast, largely cut off from fresh water
and food, as well as medicine and basic sanitation, aid agencies say.
Amid all the havoc of Israel’s military operation, more than 40,000 people in
Gaza have died, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t
distinguish between civilians and combatants. The scale of the destruction
means that as ceasefire talks restarted on Thursday in the Qatari capital,
Doha, the parallel process of reconstruction is also being discussed at the
highest level.
How Much Debris Covers the Gaza Strip
More debris
52,000 tonnes in area the size
of two New York City blocks
Gaza City
Mediterranean
Sea
ISRAEL
30,000t
Khan Younis
2,000t
Rafah
West
Bank
Gaza
Strip
Israel
EGYPT
So far, Israeli air strikes have left more than 42 million tonnes of debris across
the Strip, according to the UN. That’s enough rubble to fill a line of dump
trucks stretching from New York to Singapore. Removing it all may take years
and cost as much as $700 million. The task will be complicated by
unexploded bombs, dangerous contaminants and human remains under the
rubble.
The majority of the debris is destroyed housing, and its distribution across
the Strip roughly mimics Gaza’s population density before the war.
At least 8.5 million tonnes of debris will have to be cleared from Khan Younis,
where Bani Suheila is located and where Abu Nassira’s family home stood.
The governorate once produced most of Gaza’s citrus fruit, including
oranges and grapefruits. Its orchards and fields now lie in ruin — at least half
the Strip’s farmland has been destroyed, leading to a collapse of the
agricultural sector that will take years to overcome, according to Juzoor, a
local charity partnered with Oxfam.
Khan Younis in August.
The situation is particularly acute in the north. Gaza City — previously the
Palestinian Territories’ largest urban center — and its surrounding areas have
been extensively damaged, accounting for more than half of the Strip’s
debris.
Jabalia in July. Photographer: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images
Rebuilding Gaza, and the lives of its residents, will require a complete
overhaul of its entire physical infrastructure and some form of political
solution over what a new Gaza will look like. But before any of that can
happen the collection and disposal of all the rubble — after the war ends —
will be of paramount importance.
Nuseirat in May.
Property rights and difficulties in finding disposal sites for contaminated
debris will further complicate the process. Rebuilding Gaza could cost far
more than $80 billion, when taking into account hidden expenses like the
long term impact of a labor market devastated by death, injury and trauma,
according to Daniel Egel, a senior economist at California-based think tank
RAND. “You can rebuild a building, but how do you rebuild the lives of a
million children?”
And it’s not clear who is going to pay.
“What we see in Gaza is something that we have never seen before in the
history of urbanism,” said Mark Jarzombek, an architectural history professor
at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied post World
War II reconstruction. “It’s not just the destruction of physical infrastructure,
it’s the destruction of basic institutions of governance and of a sense of
normality.”
“The cost of rebuilding will be prohibitive. Construction sites on this scale
have to be empty of people, creating another wave of displacements. No
matter what one does, for generations Gaza will be struggling with this,”
Jarzombek added.
A meeting of donor countries and global charities in the West Bank city of
Ramallah on Aug. 12 was an opening salvo in those efforts to secure financial
aid.
Organized by the UN Development and Environment Programmes and the
Palestinian Authority — the only internationally-recognized body
representing Palestinians — it discussed what should happen next. Given the
money, manpower and equipment needed, devising a plan now for debris
clearance is crucial so that work can start as soon as fighting ends, Ahed
Bseiso, the Palestinian Authority’s minister for public works and housing told
reporters after the meeting.
Damaged Housing Drives Cost of Gaza’s Conflicts
Value of buildings destroyed between Oct. 2023 and Jan. 2024, by sector,
compared to the 2014 conflict that lasted more than a month
$35M
Education
$780M
Housing
$33M
Water and
Sanitation
$24M
Health
$58M
Energy
$42M
Transport
$13.3B
HOUSING
$341.2M
$553.6M
EDUCATION
HEALTH
$502.7M
$358.5M
TRANSPORT
WATER AND
SANITATION
$278.5M
ENERGY
Source: World Bank
Gaza is no stranger to conflict. Hamas has fought four other wars with Israel
since 2007 when it wrested power of the strip from Fatah, its rival that leads
the Palestinian Authority and is based in the West Bank, the larger of the two
Palestinian Territories. This war is by far the longest and most damaging.
After previous rounds of fighting, Gulf states, the EU, US and Japan were
among donors that pledged, but didn’t always provide, funds to help Gaza’s
recovery. Qatar was one of the biggest backers — investing directly in roads,
hospitals, and housing complexes, as well as agricultural and infrastructure
projects, plus grants, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars over a
decade. But key players have said they are reluctant to contribute again
without a negotiating track to a political solution that ends the cycle of
violence.
Intense debate over what that would entail are ongoing alongside the Qatar
and Egypt-mediated ceasefire talks and discussions on de-escalating
tensions with Iran and the Tehran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Arab
states are among those advocating for a comprehensive plan for Gaza
immediately after the war to create two states and a governing role for a
reinvigorated Palestinian Authority that doesn’t include Hamas. US President
Joe Biden’s administration is pushing Israel’s current religious-nationalist
government — which opposes Palestinian sovereignty and doesn’t want to
cede control over security — for greater flexibility.
In Ramallah, officials from the Palestinian Authority have been mapping out
Gaza’s reconstruction for months. They presented their vision to the
international community in Brussels in May, and have been trying to drum up
support ever since.
Gaza’s Growing Clean-Up Problem
Accumulated debris from November 2023 to July 2024
Tonnes of debris
50
0
100
138K
NOV. 2023
JAN. 2024
MAY 2024
JULY 2024
Proposed
dump site
Existing
dump site
Netzarim
Corridor,
a new Israeli
military road
Salah
al-Din
Road
42M
39M
TONNES
IN TOTAL
23M
3.8M
Source: UN Environment Programme
Note: Map shows debris from damaged buildings only, while the total value
also includes debris from damaged roads.
Despite being sidelined in Gaza since Hamas’s power grab 17 years ago, the
Palestinian Authority still pays about 40% of the Strip’s official expenditure,
such as the salaries and pensions of civil servants as well as services like
water and electricity, which are largely controlled by Israel. It also
coordinated rebuilding efforts following the previous conflict between Israel
and Hamas with international institutions, aid organizations and the various
UN agencies. That is likely to be the case this time, too.
All parties will have to agree on a reconstruction blueprint, foremost Israel,
which has blocked so-called dual-use materials — anything that could help
Hamas build tunnels or weapons — from entering the territory since 2007.
“We hope for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip,”
Bseiso said in an interview. “We need to move freely and control our borders
in order for the material to enter Gaza, and we hope that Israel won’t ban its
entry.”
When asked about debris removal, a spokesperson for Israel’s Coordinator of
Government Activities in the Territories, a Defense Ministry body, said it’s
focusing on facilitating aid for now. Israeli officials said that it’s too early to
comment on reconstruction.
Israel launched its air and ground offensive a day after Hamas fighters
crossed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around
250 hostages back to Gaza. The release of those still captive in the Strip in
exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails is a major focus of ceasefire
negotiations. Israel says that part of the reason so much of the territory has
been destroyed is because Hamas rooted itself in every physical part of life
and then dug some 500 miles of tunnels for a fortified underground base. It
believes Yahya Sinwar, the attack’s mastermind, is hiding in the Strip. Israel
sees defeating Hamas as an existential challenge — not only to stop it from
ever attacking again but also to send a warning to other anti-Israel militias
like Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen that they will be hunted down and
destroyed.
Destruction in Deir al-Balah in August. Photographer: Abed Rahim
Khatib/Anadolu/Getty ImagesDestruction in Deir al-Balah in August.
Photographer: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images
Palestinians return to Jabalia in June after Israeli withdrawal. Photographer:
Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu/Getty ImagesPalestinians return to Jabalia in
June after Israeli withdrawal. Photographer: Dawoud Abo
Alkas/Anadolu/Getty Images
Rubble and pools of stagnant waste water in Khan Younis in July.
Photographer: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty ImagesRubble and pools of
stagnant waste water in Khan Younis in July. Photographer: Abed Rahim
Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images
Palestinians inspect the damage to a school complex for displaced civilians,
operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency, in Nuseirat in June.
Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg.Palestinians inspect the damage to
a school complex for displaced civilians, operated by the UN Relief and
Works Agency, in Nuseirat in June.
Families flee the Hamad district of Khan Younis following Israeli army
evacuation orders on Aug. 11. Photographer: Ahmad
Salem/BloombergFamilies flee the Hamad district of Khan Younis following
Israeli army evacuation orders on Aug. 11.
The collapsed minaret of the Abdullah Azzam Mosque following an Israeli
strike in Nuseirat in July. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/BloombergThe
collapsed minaret of the Abdullah Azzam Mosque following an Israeli strike in
Nuseirat in July.
Under the Palestinian Authority’s plan, all unexploded munitions will be
dismantled as soon as it gets the green light to begin reconstruction. Roads
will then be cleared to allow access to temporary accommodation sites not
yet built. Bseiso said each cluster will include schools, playgrounds and
government offices, and will be set up as money becomes available near
destroyed urban centers “so that citizens can help the rebuilding process.” At
the same time, rubble clearance will begin.
After previous wars, people tended to stay with family or rented property
while their homes were being rebuilt. The scale of destruction means that is
no longer possible. Aid agencies worry about people like Abu Nassira and her
family removing rubble themselves and living in unsafe, makeshift homes.
After returning to their property in March, when Israeli forces withdrew from
the area, they cleared their garden and cobbled together a shelter with wood,
blankets and debris. Neighbors did the same or moved into damaged
buildings. Some people have been sleeping on the street.
Bseiso said that little can be done to stop them leaving al-Mawasi — the
designated safe zone along the coast southwest of Khan Younis — where the
stench of raw sewage, infectious diseases and searing summer heat has
made life under its plastic tents unbearable. He said wanting to regain a
sense of normality was understandable. When Abu Nassira initially fled her
home in Bani Suheila with her husband and 10-year-old son she thought it
would be a short break. Instead they moved nine times in a few months,
sheltering in schools and camps, surviving aerial bombardment, the cold of
winter, hunger and dehydration. And lost relatives, including a cousin killed in
an airstrike near their house while riding his bike.
Abu Nassira and her son by their destroyed home in August. Photo courtesy
of Abu Nassira
Her son searching through the rubble of their house in April. Video courtesy
of Abu Nassira
Chitose Noguchi, a senior UNDP official tasked with supporting the
Palestinian people, stressed how complicated the process of removing the
rubble will be at the Aug. 12 meeting. The programme has extensive
experience in Gaza, she said, but given the number of bodies buried within
the debris — some 10,000 according to the UN — as well as unexploded
munitions “this time is very different,” and requires new ways of doing things.
Tonnes of Rubble Cleared After 2021 Escalation
75% of rubble was cleaned up by
civilians and the UN
13.1K
ARABIAN COMMITTEE
FOR RECONSTRUCTION
155.4K
CITIZENS
63.5K
EGYPT
122.5K
UN
DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME
18.5K
JOINT COORDINATION
BETWEEN AGENCIES
Source: Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management
The UN says that thousands of people are needed to collect and dispose of
the rubble and that there isn’t a large enough labor force to simultaneously
handle work in both Gaza and Ukraine. So it has begun training people in
Jordan.
An imam will be on hand to ensure the dignity of the dead is respected and
Islamic law will guide the actions of specialists. Legal experts will handle
property rights, made more complex by the complete destruction of some
neighborhoods and the deaths of landowners. Skilled teams will help identify
dangerous objects and deal with any immediate and long term health risks
from toxic waste.
Rubble is an ideal environment for sand flies, which can spread
Leishmaniasis, a deadly parasitic skin condition if left untreated. Yellow
scorpions and vipers nest in rocky crevices. Then there’s asbestos. Widely
used as an insulating agent, an estimated 2.3 million tonnes of debris in Gaza
contains the material, according to the UNEP. Banned in dozens of countries,
it can release air-borne particles that can cause multiple kinds of cancer like
mesothelioma. Hazardous substances from damaged hospitals is another
concern.
Four Phases of Dealing With the Rubble
The UN and others have proposed a possible sequence of events, but the
order would be determined by the situation on the ground
PREPARATION
CLEARING WHAT'S LEFT
FINAL DISPOSAL
INITIAL CLEANUP
Removal of undetonated
explosives by skilled
search teams
Demolition of
unsafe building
structures
Non-recyclables
taken to landfills
Raise money from international community
Retrieval of any
recyclable material
Removal of
debris from
demolition
Identify priority areas based on humanitarian needs
Rebuilding roads
with recycled
material
Removal of
human remains,
with Imam present
Containment of
debris with
asbestos
Determine
property rights
Hazardous waste
taken to dedicated
storage facilities
Recyclables
crushed and
tested
Identify & prepare
sites for disposal
and recycling
Recovery of any
intact personal items
Source: UN Environment Programme
The UN has proposed two spots in Gaza for such debris. One in the north
and one in the south along the fence with Israel. Basil Nasr al-Kafarna, the
Palestinian Authority minister of state for emergency relief, said 20 square
miles are needed for these sites and that areas near the sea are also being
considered. Contaminates seeping into groundwater is a worry and
backfilling certain areas would require environmental studies along with
approval from neighboring countries, according to Bseiso. The exact location
will be determined once Israel decides if it will expand its security buffer to
one kilometer into Gaza.
Uncontaminated debris can be used for reconstruction, for example after
being pulverized into concrete. The UN estimates that reprocessing only half
of such rubble would be enough to rebuild Gaza’s entire road network.
Officials have suggested using it for sea defense structures such as groynes
to protect from coastal erosion and flooding. Other potential uses include
pavement blocks for sidewalks, drainage channels and culverts. If the
territory were to recycle just half this rubble it could recuperate about a third
of the clean up costs and shave off about $143 million from the total bill.
We are “determined to rebuild Gaza in a healthy and transparent way,” Bseiso
said, expressing hope that the Strip will be reunited politically with the West
Bank. He stressed that whatever is left of a cultural heritage dating back
2,000 years will be preserved — including sites such as Gaza City’s seventh
century Omari Grand Mosque and 13th century Pasha’s Palace.
The Omari Grand Mosque in January, 2024. Photographer: Ali
Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images
The Omari Grand Mosque in April, 2023. Photographer: Ali
Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images
The area near the mosque in July. Photographer: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty
Images
The Qasr al-Basha, Pasha’s Palace, in October, 2022. Photographer: Mustafa
Hassona/Anadolu/Getty Images
Pasha’s Palace in February, 2024. Photographer: Dawoud Abo
Alkas/Anadolu/Getty Images
For Abu Nassira and other families the respite was short lived. She and her
husband, a former Palestinian Authority employee, and their son only spent
about six months on their property. They were uprooted again in July after
another evacuation order came in the form of leaflets dropped from Israeli
planes flying overhead, text messages and posts on the social media
platform X. On their second return, a few days later, Abu Nassira said they
found “bodies on the streets and so much rubble that they could hardly walk
through it.”
East Khan Younis was once a highly built up area, where apartment blocks
were often home to a single extended family or clan. Outsiders rarely moved
in — and residents knew each other so well that neighborhoods were referred
to just by the names of the families who lived there. Its surrounding farms,
full of olive, almond and peach trees, were among the few places where
people wanting a break from the concrete jungle of Gaza City could escape
to for a day.
Israel says Hamas remains deeply embedded in the region and has been
continuing its offensive there intermittently, each time triggering another
stream of departures and returns.
“Years of hard work gone in the blink of an eye,” Abu Nassira said, reflecting
on how she felt that day she saw a heap of rubble in place of her home. “I
wished there was something left.”
The family hopes to rebuild. In the meantime, Abu Nassira wants to stay in
their bombed out backyard. “It amounts to the same misery as living in the
camps,” she said, “but with shade and some privacy.”
With assistance from
Krishna Karra
Ethan Bronner
Fiona MacDonald
Christine Li Edwards
Armand Emamdjomeh
Equality
Edited by
Caroline Alexander
Chloe Whiteaker
Tom O’Sullivan
Maria Wood
Equality
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