In the midst of the destruction caused by the war in Gaza, a man named Yasser Ahmed is using small tools and his bare hands to search through rubble for important belongings and paperwork, such as property deeds. He hopes to one day rebuild his home and in the short-term, he searches for anything of value in the rubble. The war has left an unprecedented level of destruction, with an estimated 51 million tons of debris covering the once bustling neighborhoods. According to a UN report, over 60% of homes and 65% of roads have been destroyed in the approximately 360 square kilometer enclave.
Despite the devastation, Yasser is determined to stay on his land and eventually rebuild. He cautiously searches through the rubble, aware of the risks involved in removing debris in a war zone. To support the response to this critical issue, a debris management group has been formed with the collaboration of the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Environment Programme. The group includes more than 20 entities, drawing on similar experiences in other war-torn cities such as Mosul, Iraq and Aleppo and Latakia in Syria. The UN agency UNOPS, which specializes in infrastructure, procurement, and project management, is also part of this group and has developed advanced technologies to evaluate explosive hazards and remove rubble safely.
The Executive Director of UNOPS, Jorge Moreira da Silva, visited Gaza and emphasized the importance of providing explosive hazard education to both Palestinians and humanitarian workers. The UNDP, which helps countries achieve sustainable development, began removing rubble in Gaza in December 2024, using some of it for roadworks to improve humanitarian operations. However, the issue of land and property ownership in Gaza is complex, especially when legal documents are lost or destroyed. The Director of the network of NGOs in Gaza, Amjad Al-Shawa, says that the issue of rubble disposal is a major challenge and requires resources that are not readily available in Gaza. So far, $7 million has been donated for rubble removal, but an additional $40 million is needed to significantly scale up the work. The challenge is further complicated by the difficulty of bringing in heavy equipment to remove the rubble.
The destruction in Gaza is immense, with entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble. The cost of the damage to physical infrastructure has been estimated at $30 billion, with the housing sector being the hardest hit. The cost of recovery and reconstruction is estimated at over $53 billion. Despite this, Yasser remains determined to rebuild his land. As regional talks are underway to develop a plan for rebuilding Gaza, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will travel to Cairo next week for a summit with Arab leaders to advocate for sustainable rebuilding efforts and a political resolution.