The Staggering Cost of Rebuilding Gaza

Rebuilding Gaza to its prewar condition will cost more than $71 billion over five years, according to a new assessment by the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union.

The report, published April 20, is the first comprehensive damage assessment since the October 2025 ceasefire halted two years of war in the Strip. It found that the war caused $35.2 billion in direct physical damage and another $22.7 billion in economic losses, including lost income and displacement-related costs.

The overall reconstruction estimate is about $5 billion higher than the previous rapid assessment issued in October 2024.

Rebuilding efforts remain largely stalled because of the lack of progress on the second phase of the US peace plan, which envisioned the ceasefire leading to the end of Hamas rule in Gaza. The IDF still controls more than half of the Strip and has restricted the entry of most heavy equipment into the remaining areas, where nearly all Gazans now live, pending Hamas’s disarmament.

Housing is the largest reconstruction need. The report found that more than 1.2 million Gazans, about 60% of the population, lost their homes during the war. It estimated that 371,888 housing units, more than three-quarters of Gaza’s housing stock, were damaged, with nearly 85% of them completely destroyed. Rebuilding the housing sector is expected to cost $16.21 billion.

The report also found severe damage to Gaza’s health system, with fewer than half of hospitals and under 38% of primary healthcare centers even partly functional. Rebuilding healthcare is expected to cost $10.03 billion.

Infrastructure damage is also extensive. More than 90% of the electricity sector’s infrastructure was destroyed, according to the report, with energy recovery estimated at $2.73 billion. Water and sewage damage was estimated at $1.7 billion, while rebuilding those systems is expected to cost $4.24 billion.

Gaza’s economy was also heavily damaged. The report said 92% of businesses were affected, and fewer than one in 10 Gazans currently has a job. Nearly three-quarters of those employed before the war lost work during the fighting.

It remains unclear who will pay for the reconstruction. The US announced in February that $17 billion had been pledged through the Washington-led Board of Peace, including $10 billion from the US and roughly $1 billion each from several Gulf states. But officials familiar with the matter said only a small portion had been transferred by early May.

The report said reconstruction should move in phases, beginning with emergency food aid, temporary housing, classrooms and field hospitals, followed by broader rebuilding of homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure.