Gaza infrastructure damages estimated at $18.5bn in UN-World Bank report
An aerial view of damage around the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, April 2024
Al Jazeera reports on 2 April 2024:
The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in the first four months of Israel’s continuing war on Gaza is estimated at about $18.5bn, a new report by the World Bank and the United Nations has found.
The report estimated that the damage was equivalent to 97 percent of the combined GDP of the occupied West Bank and Gaza in 2022.
“The level of destruction in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 is unprecedented,” the Interim Damage Assessment Note released on Tuesday said.
The continuing conflict has damaged or destroyed approximately 62 percent of all homes in Gaza, equivalent to 290,820 housing units, and more than a million people are without homes. Housing accounts for 72 percent of the total damage costs, at an estimated value of $13.3bn.
Public service infrastructure, such as water, health and education, account for 19 percent, while commercial and industrial buildings make up 9 percent.
The energy, water and municipal sectors have suffered nearly $800m in damages and the water and sanitation system has been significantly reduced, delivering less than 5 percent of its previous output.
With 84 percent of health facilities damaged or destroyed, and a lack of electricity and water to operate the remaining ones, the population has minimal access to healthcare, the report found.