Palestinians Say Construction Of Houses In Gaza Destroyed By Israeli Attacks Needs Funds Around IDR 234 Quadrillion

Gaza Strip conditions destroyed by Israeli attacks. (UNRWA/Ashraf Amra)

JAKARTA - Palestinian Investment Fund chief Mohammed Mustafa said on Wednesday, at least 15 billion (IDR 234,582,750,000,000) was needed to rebuild houses in Gaza, underscoring the scale of the destruction caused by Israeli attacks.

Mohammed Mustafa said international reports showed 350,000 housing units had been completely damaged or partially in Gaza. Assuming 150,000 houses need to be rebuilt at an average cost of 100,000 US dollars per unit, "it means 15 billion US dollars for the whole house", he said.

"We're still not talking about infrastructure, we haven't talked about a damaged hospital, a power grid," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The figure suggests a much larger reconstruction cost than the previous budget to rebuild Gaza after the previous conflict, with the war not more than three months since it began.

Following the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel, which lasted seven weeks and killed 2,100 Palestinians, Qatar spent more than $1 billion on housing and aid projects in Gaza.

Israel has destroyed most of the region in a campaign that health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza have killed 24,448 people since October 7, when Palestinian groups sparked war by storming Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others, according to Israeli tallies.

Figures issued by the Hamas media office in Gaza showed more than 360,000 housing units were badly damaged or partially, with more than 70,000 housing units completely destroyed.

Mustafa further said the Palestinian leadership, in the short term, will continue to focus on humanitarian aid including food and water, but ultimately its focus will shift to reconstruction.

So far, the war has caused most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents to flee their homes, some of which have occurred several times, and caused a humanitarian crisis, with food, fuel, and increasingly depleted medical supplies.

"If the war in Gaza continues, most likely more people will die from hunger or hunger than war," Mustafa explained.

"The first step that must be taken is to return food, medicines, water and electricity to the trapped enclave," he added.

Mustafa said reconstruction efforts would be enormous and would require large funds. He also said money would not solve Gaza's problems, adding it needed a political solution.

It is known that the Palestinian Investment Fund based in Ramallah is part of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

When asked what the role of Hamas will be in the future, Mustafa said "the best way forward is to be as inclusive as possible".