Rebuilding 'human-made abyss' in Gaza will cost at least $70bn, says UN agency

Israel's war in Gaza has created a "human-made abyss", and reconstruction is likely to cost more than $70bn (£53bn) over several decades, the United Nations has said.

- Jason Burke

The UN's trade and development agency (Unctad) said in a report that Israel's military operations had "significantly undermined every pillar of survival" and that the entire population of 2.3 million people faced "extreme, multidimensional impoverishment".

The report said Gaza's economy had contracted by 87% over the course of 2023-2024, leaving its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at just $161, among the lowest globally.

The report also found that "violence, accelerated settlement expansion and restrictions on worker mobility" had "decimated the economy" in the West Bank.

"Plummeting revenues and the withholding of fiscal transfers by the Israeli government have severely constrained the Palestinian government's ability to maintain essential public services and invest in recovery," it said.

"This comes at a critical time when massive spending is needed to rebuild shattered infrastructure and address worsening environmental and socioeconomic crises."

The report found that the steepest economic contraction on record had wiped out decades of progress across the West Bank and Gaza.