un-estimates-30-40-billion-needed-to-reconstruct-gaza-from-world-war-ii-like-destruction

A UN agency estimated that rebuilding Gaza will cost around $30 billion to $40 billion and require an effort on a scale the world has not seen since World War II, as per media reports.

The UN assistant secretary-general Abdallah al-Dardari, said that, the UN Development Programme's first estimates for Gaza Strip rehabilitation exceed $30 billion and may surpass $40 billion.

"The scale of destruction is massive and unsurmountable in Gaza, and this sort of destruction has not been witnessed since World War II," he said.

Media reports, while quoting UN analysis, suggest that rebuilding Gaza at the pre-conflict pace may require a century to reconstruct and reshape it into a full-fledged sustainable living place for humans.

According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Gaza will require "approximately 80 years to restore all of the fully destroyed housing units".

However, in the best-case scenario, building materials may be delivered five times faster than during the previous crisis in 2021; it could be done by 2040, read the report.

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Meanwhile, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has said that the party is "positively" considering a request for a truce in the almost seven-month-long conflict in Gaza.

In a call to Egypt's intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, Haniyeh said he "appreciates the role played by Egypt," which is mediating the talks alongside Qatar and the United States, and "expressed the positive spirit of the movement in studying the ceasefire proposal," according to a statement on Hamas' official website.

Haniyeh indicated that the movement's team will return to Egypt "as soon as possible to complete the ongoing discussions".

He added that the goal of the negotiations would be "to reach an agreement that fulfils the demands of our people and puts an end to the aggression."