War money for street repairs in Gaza

Palestinians are using war rubble to repave streets destroyed during Israel's two-year offensive on Gaza, crushing concrete and metal and turning them into roadbeds, in a UN project they hope will mark the first step toward rebuilding their devastated cities.

The project, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, was launched at a time when progress is lacking on US President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, which aimed to build on the October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas by increasing aid and rebuilding the enclave from the ground up.

It is an attempt by the UN and Palestinians, using locally available machinery, to remove mountains of rubble that officials say are blocking access to wells and hospitals and making it difficult to restart the economy.

Alesandro Mrakić, head of the UNDP office in Gaza, said the territory is facing one of the largest post-war rubble removal challenges in modern history, with an estimated 61 million tons of rubble.

"In addition to collecting the rubble, we started sorting, crushing and, as such, reusing it," Mrakić said. "We used almost the same amount that we collected."

Mrakić said that UNDP teams, made up of Palestinian workers, are using rubble "to rebuild roads and pave areas for shelters and public kitchens."

In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, Palestinians used heavy machinery to break up huge piles of destroyed concrete, clouds of dust rising into the air and workers sifting through twisted steel and the rubble of damaged buildings.

Officials say progress is being slowed by dangers hidden beneath the rubble. Before the rubble can be removed, the sites must be checked for unexploded ordnance, in coordination with the UN Mine Action Service.

For Palestinian workers, these risks are very real.

"I have no other way to earn money, that's why I do this job. It could happen that I get hurt," 32-year-old Ibrahim al-Sarsavi told Reuters.

He stated that the very location of the works, near the ceasefire line between Israel and Hamas, means that it may be exposed to stray Israeli fire.

The removal of rubble in Gaza could take seven years, the UNDP estimates, provided it is accelerated and allows unhindered access for heavy machinery and ensures a stable supply of fuel, which is otherwise scarce in Gaza due to Israeli restrictions.

Israel cites security reasons for these restrictions in Gaza, where it launched an offensive following a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The UNDP has so far removed around 287.000 tons of rubble - but that is just the "tip of the iceberg", according to Mrakić.

The recovery and reconstruction of this small territory will require $71,4 billion over the next decade, according to the final assessment of the rapid damage and needs for Gaza released this month by the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank.

"The war is over, but this is the beginning of a new war," said Sobi Dawood, 60, a displaced Palestinian living in a tent settlement in Khan Yunis. That "new war," he added, is a war of "reconstruction, the beginning of removing the rubble and (repairing) the infrastructure, electricity, water, sewage, schools and streets."