At only 41 kilometers long (25.4 miles) and two to five kilometers wide (1.2 to 3.1 miles), few places in the Gaza Strip remained unscathed by constant Israeli bombardments before the latest ceasefire took effect last Friday.
According to the United Nations Development Program’s Special Representative for the Palestinians, Jaco Cilliers, the destruction across the enclave “is now around 84 percent. In some parts of Gaza, such as Gaza City, this figure is as high as 92 percent.”
$20 billion needed now
Speaking from Jerusalem, UNDPMr. Cilliers highlighted the findings of the latest Rapid Interim Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) in Gaza carried out by the UN, the European Union and the World Bank, which estimated the damage at $70 billion.
To relaunch the massive operation, some $20 billion will be needed over the next three years alonehe told reporters in Geneva.
The United Nations development agency is present in Gaza alongside humanitarian partners to provide immediate support to the enclave’s 2.1 million residents.
This includes providing clean water, emergency employment, medical supplies, solid waste disposal, and securing homes and public spaces by clearing rubble that potentially hides unexploded ordnance or thousands of missing Palestinians.
“We have already removed around 81,000 tonnes. That represents around… 3,100 trucks,” Mr Cilliers explained. “Most of the debris removal is aimed at providing access for humanitarian actors so that they can provide much-needed aid and support to the people of Gaza. But we are also helping hospitals and other social services that need to be cleared of debris.”
The UNDP official stressed “very good indications” from potential donors in support of the reconstruction of Arab states, but also European nations and the United States “which have also indicated that they will come to support some of the early recovery efforts”.
Indispensable immediate help
As important as reconstruction is to Gaza’s long-term future, UN humanitarians have once again called on Israeli authorities to open all access points to Gaza, after the 20 remaining Israeli hostages were released on Monday and Palestinian prisoners released from Israel.
The development follows the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel on Monday evening in Sharm el-Sheikh by US President Donald Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
Earlier Monday, the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the release of all living hostages from Gaza, two years after they were among the approximately 250 people captured during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Testimony from Gaza City
Talk to UN News of Gaza, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), aid worker Tess Ingram described the story of a family displaced five times by war:
“I met a family today, Mustafa and Syeda and their children, and they told me they were one of the lucky ones because while Mustafa was removing the rubble from the building, this is their house, at least,” he said, “we have a house.”
The family was relieved Monday when a tanker truck appeared, Ms. Imgram told us: “But they live in fear that the truck won’t arrive today or tomorrow. She also can’t get the medicine she needs and her sons had to travel a very long way today just to buy the basic necessities she needed. bread.
“Families absolutely need everything right now. We need the hundreds of trucks per day that have been promised to enter the Gaza Strip.”
The hostage remains
On Tuesday, attention focused on the transfer from Gaza of all the deceased hostages, an extremely difficult process overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is still unclear how many deceased hostages will be transferred by Hamas.
“As for live hostages or Palestinian detainees – and believe me, this is a big problem for us – we don’t know, we know we have to be ready,” said ICRC spokesperson Christian Cardon, adding that the complex search began today.
Meanwhile, needs in Gaza remain enormous and “fluid,” humanitarian teams report, with more than 300,000 Palestinians heading north toward Gaza City since Friday, as the ceasefire agreement appeared to be holding.
“The enthusiasm that came from the international community, from the people on the ground, that this was the beginning of the end of all suffering and that things were going to change quickly, is it just doesn’t reflect on the groundday after day. We are not receiving enough aid,” said Ricardo Pires, spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Israeli authorities have agreed to allow 190,000 tonnes of relief supplies into Gaza and UN agencies and partners are rapidly scaling up operations, but much more is needed overall, according to humanitarian agencies, including the UN aid office, OCHAwe repeated it several times.
“Of course we are pleading with everyone, and we were also present yesterday in Sharm el-Sheikh, with 22 heads of state and government, who we are asking to help us press all possible buttons to get this up and running as quickly as possible,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.
Help Center Carnage
Humanitarian teams continue to stress the need to stop distributing vital supplies from remote areas, including non-UN aid centers that are difficult to access and where hundreds of Palestinians have been shot or injured.
“Most actors – including the ICRC – have not been able to organize sufficient distribution of aid inside Gaza,” Mr Cardon said. “And what we’ve seen instead is people coming back from distribution sites being injured, or even killed, in many cases… This is help coming to people and not other people going to help.” »
Originally published at Almouwatin.com