Two years of Israel’s genocide left the Gaza Strip physically shattered, socially fractured, and economically paralyzed.
With more than half of its population displaced, entire neighborhoods flattened and key institutions in ruin, Gaza faces a recovery that experts warn could take decades, and cost billions of dollars.
A comprehensive Gaza and West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) report, released by the World Bank, EU and the U.N. in February, paints a grim picture, with estimated costs of $53 billion, with short-term needs in the first three years to be around $20 billion.
According to the assessment, evaluating the situation from October 2023 to January 2025, the estimated physical damages incurred are around $29.9 billion, and economic and social losses amounting to $19.1 billion.
Other estimates place the cost of reconstructing the enclave even higher than figures cited in the IRDNA report.
