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Middle East crisis live: Rebuilding Gaza will cost $30bn to $40bn, UN says as scale of destruction is ‘huge and unprecedented’ – as it happened

UN agency says reconstruction will require effort on a scale unseen since second world war

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Thu 2 May 2024 11.00 EDTFirst published on Thu 2 May 2024 02.21 EDT
A vue of a devastated neighbourhood in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
A vue of a devastated neighbourhood in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
A vue of a devastated neighbourhood in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

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UN estimates rebuilding Gaza will cost $30bn to $40bn

A UN agency said on Thursday that rebuilding Gaza will cost an estimated $30bn to $40bn and require an effort on a scale unseen since the second world war, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“The United Nations Development Programme’s initial estimates for the reconstruction of … the Gaza Strip surpass $30bn and could reach up to $40bn,” said UN assistant secretary general Abdallah al-Dardari.

“The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented … This is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since the second world war,” Dardari told a press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.

According to the UN, 72% of all residential buildings in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed.
According to the UN, 72% of all residential buildings in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

According to AFP, he added that if Gaza’s reconstruction were to be carried out through the normal process, “it could take decades, and the Palestinian people do not have the luxury of waiting for decades”.

He told the press conference:

It is therefore important that we act quickly to re-house people in decent housing and restore their lives to normal – economically, socially, in terms of health and education.

This is our top priority, and it must be achieved within the first three years following the cessation of hostilities.”

He estimated the total rubble from bombardment and explosions at 37m tonnes.

“We are talking about a colossal figure, and this figure is increasing every day,” he said. “The latest data indicates that it is already approaching 40m tonnes.”

The UN official also said “72% of all residential buildings have been completely or partially destroyed”.

“Reconstruction must be planned carefully, efficiently and with extreme flexibility because we do not know how the war will end” and what type of postwar governance will be established in the Gaza Strip, he added.

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Closing summary

It is 6pm in Gaza and in Tel Aviv. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.

Here is a recap of the latest developments:

  • A UN agency said on Thursday that rebuilding Gaza will cost an estimated $30bn to $40bn and require an effort on a scale unseen since the second world war. “The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented,” UN assistant secretary general Abdallah al-Dardari told a press conference in Amman, Jordan.

  • Hamas confirmed that the group will visit Egypt for further ceasefire talks in the Gaza war. A statement by the group added that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had affirmed the group’s “positive spirit in studying the ceasefire proposal” in a phone call with Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Speaking to Reuters, a Palestinian official close to the mediation said the Hamas delegation’s visit could take place in the next two days.

  • Israel’s president on Thursday criticised US universities for campus unrest over Israel’s war in Gaza, saying these institutions were “contaminated by hatred and antisemitism”. Isaac Herzog said in a special broadcast that he was issuing an urgent message of support to Jewish communities amid a “dramatic resurgence in antisemitism and following the hostilities and intimidation against Jewish students on campuses across the US in particular”.

  • Israel’s war cabinet will meet at 6.30pm [3.30pm GMT] tonight to discuss “the next steps in negotiations to achieve a hostage deal”. The full security cabinet will meet afterwards. Earlier this week, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would launch a ground operation in Rafah regardless of whether there was a deal or not.

  • A senior Hamas official overnight has told the AFP news agency that at the moment the group’s response to the proposed truce deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar was “negative”, but that discussions were still under way. The official said Hamas “cannot under any circumstances raise the white flag or surrender to the conditions of the Israeli enemy.”

  • The outline of the hostage release programme that has been proposed is believed to be a 40 day pause in fighting while initially female hostages are released in batches of three every three days in return for Palestinian detainees. Hamas and other groups are believed to have seized and abducted about 250 people on 7 October from inside southern Israel, with 133 of them thought still held captive, not all of whom are believed to be alive.

  • At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, according to new figures released by the Hamas-led health ministry. During the same period 474 Palestinians including 116 children, have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem by either Israeli security forces or settlers. Israel says 263 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since it launched its ground offensive. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

  • Two people have been arrested after shouting verbal abuse and throwing stones and eggs at a demonstration being held by relatives of those held hostage in Gaza which was attempting to block a highway in Tel Aviv.

  • More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools in the US in the last couple of weeks during the protests about the Israel-Gaza conflict. You can follow our live coverage of that here.

  • Paris’s Sciences Po university has rejected demands by protesters to review its relations with Israeli universities, its interim director Jean Bassères said on Thursday, prompting some students to say they would start a hunger strike in protest. “I clearly refused to set up a working group on our relations with Israeli universities and partner companies,” Bassères told reporters after a townhall meeting with students and staff. Dozens of students promptly started a sit-in inside the university to protest Bassères decision.

  • The EU has offered Lebanon a financial package of €1bn (£855m / $1.07bn) which among other measures includes supporting Lebanon’s armed forces with equipment and training for border management.

  • Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has issued a statement after speaking to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell. He said there was a “need to end the Israeli regime’s crimes and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, without delay and precondition”.

  • The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Thursday that the first baby has been born after the reopening of the maternity ward at the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis. The child is named Muhammad Luay al-Raqab.

  • The risk of exposure to unexploded ordnance in Gaza is at its “most dangerous stage”, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has warned. Highlighting the warning in its flash update, the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), reported that a 14-year-old boy was seriously injured and had to undergo limb amputations after opening a booby-trapped can of food in Khan Younis.

  • Organisers of the Eurovision song contest in Sweden have said they will not allow people to bring in or display Palestinian flags at the event, in which Israel is competing.

  • A British police officer pleaded guilty on Thursday to terror charges for showing support on social media for Hamas, which is designated a terror group and banned in the UK. The West Yorkshire constable admitted sharing two images on WhatsApp supporting the group three weeks after the 7 October attack.

  • The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that several Palestinian civilians were killed on Thursday morning by Israeli airstrikes which targeted residential buildings and also the “lands and tents of the displaced people east of the city of Rafah”. It reported that “six citizens were killed in an Israeli bombing of the city of Al-Zahraa, north of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip” and that one person was killed near Khan Younis, and two were killed when Israel bombed “a residential building owned by Ishteiwi family in Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City” where it said “a number of missing people are still under the rubble.” The claims have not been independently verified.

UN estimates rebuilding Gaza will cost $30bn to $40bn

A UN agency said on Thursday that rebuilding Gaza will cost an estimated $30bn to $40bn and require an effort on a scale unseen since the second world war, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“The United Nations Development Programme’s initial estimates for the reconstruction of … the Gaza Strip surpass $30bn and could reach up to $40bn,” said UN assistant secretary general Abdallah al-Dardari.

“The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented … This is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since the second world war,” Dardari told a press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.

According to the UN, 72% of all residential buildings in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

According to AFP, he added that if Gaza’s reconstruction were to be carried out through the normal process, “it could take decades, and the Palestinian people do not have the luxury of waiting for decades”.

He told the press conference:

It is therefore important that we act quickly to re-house people in decent housing and restore their lives to normal – economically, socially, in terms of health and education.

This is our top priority, and it must be achieved within the first three years following the cessation of hostilities.”

He estimated the total rubble from bombardment and explosions at 37m tonnes.

“We are talking about a colossal figure, and this figure is increasing every day,” he said. “The latest data indicates that it is already approaching 40m tonnes.”

The UN official also said “72% of all residential buildings have been completely or partially destroyed”.

“Reconstruction must be planned carefully, efficiently and with extreme flexibility because we do not know how the war will end” and what type of postwar governance will be established in the Gaza Strip, he added.

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Paris’s Sciences Po university has rejected demands by protesters to review its relations with Israeli universities, its interim director Jean Bassères said on Thursday, prompting some students to say they would start a hunger strike in protest, reports Reuters.

Students at several French universities, including Sciences Po and Sorbonne University have blocked or occupied their institutes over the war in Gaza, although not on the same scale as seen in the US.

Institute of Political Studies (IEP), or Sciences Po, university's interim director Jean Bassères holds a press conference in Paris on Thursday. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

“I clearly refused to set up a working group on our relations with Israeli universities and partner companies,” Bassères told reporters after a townhall meeting with students and staff. Dozens of students promptly started a sit-in inside the university to protest Bassères decision.

“A first student has started a hunger strike, in solidarity with Palestinian victims, but even more so to protest against the way Sciences Po is repressing students who want to show their support for Palestine,” said Hicham, a student at Sciences Po and one of the pro-Palestinian protesters there.

More students would join the hunger strike, he told reporters, demanding that the university’s leadership agrees for its board to hold a public vote on reviewing partnerships with Israeli universities.

According to Reuters, the townhall was one of the conditions set last week for Sciences Po students to call off their protests over war in Gaza. Many had also asked the university to cut all ties with Israel.

Protesters during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the courtyard of Sciences Po building in Lyon, on Tuesday. Photograph: Olivier Chassignole/AFP/Getty Images

Bassères said he was aware that refusing to put together a working group to review relations with Israel could anger some protesters. “I’m calling on all to show a sense of responsibility,” he said, urging protesters not to disrupt exams set to start next week.

The elite political sciences university would work on how best to organise internal debate on contentious topics, he said, adding that the university already had rules to review its partnerships.

“The last ties that should be severed are the ones between universities,” said Arancha González, who heads Sciences Po’s School of International Affairs.

Hamas delegation to visit Egypt soon for further Gaza ceasefire talks

Further to the report by the Times of Israel earlier [see 13.02 BST], Reuters have more details on a Hamas delegation visiting Cairo soon for further Gaza ceasefire talks.

According to the news agency, a statement on Thursday from Hamas confirmed that the group will visit Egypt for further ceasefire talks in the Gaza war. The statement added that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had affirmed the group’s “positive spirit in studying the ceasefire proposal” in a phone call with Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Hamas said on Saturday that it had received Israel’s latest position would study it before submitting a reply.

According to Reuters, the Egyptian state-affiliated Al-Qahera News quoted an unidentified high-level Egyptian source as saying that the Hamas delegation would arrive in Cairo in the next two days.

Speaking to Reuters, a Palestinian official close to the mediation also said the Hamas delegation’s visit could take place in the next two days.

Hamas’s statement added that the negotiations to be held in Cairo aim to “mature a deal that achieves the demands of our people and ends the aggression.”

Israel’s president on Thursday criticised US universities for campus unrest over Israel’s war in Gaza, saying these institutions were “contaminated by hatred and antisemitism”.

Isaac Herzog said in a special broadcast that he was issuing an urgent message of support to Jewish communities amid a “dramatic resurgence in antisemitism and following the hostilities and intimidation against Jewish students on campuses across the US in particular” reports AFP.

My colleague Gloria Oladipo is following the US campus protests live on a separate live blog, which you can find here.

A British police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to terror charges for showing support on social media for Hamas, which is designated a terror group and banned in the UK.

The West Yorkshire constable admitted sharing two images on WhatsApp supporting the group three weeks after the 7 October attack. He was released on bail, and will be sentenced on 4 June.

Emanuel Fabian, military correspondent at the Times of Israel, reports that Israeli security forces have removed the remains of another intercepted Iranian missile that fell on to open ground after being struck during Tehran’s unprecedented state-on-state attack on Israel in April.

The Israeli military removed the remains of another intercepted Iranian ballistic missile found by hikers at the Ye'elim stream, close to Arad, in southern Israel.

The missile was one of 120 fired at Israel in the Iranian attack on April 14.

The remains were lifted out of the… pic.twitter.com/IZo5XzKyTC

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 2, 2024

Muhammad Luay al-Raqab is the first baby to be born after the reopening of the maternity ward at the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, said the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Thursday.

The baby Muhammad Luay Al-Raqab is the first birth case after the reopening of the maternity ward at the PRCS Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis. #AlAmalHospital #Gaza pic.twitter.com/EegpSwKMkG

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) May 2, 2024

In late January, the PRCS said Israeli tanks had surrounded the, al-Amal hospital, which is the headquarters of the rescue agency. At the time, an Israeli military spokesperson denied its forces were storming the hospital in southern Gaza.

Here are some of the latest images on the newswires:

A Palestinian boy cycles past the damaged Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators block traffic during a protest calling for the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas, on the main highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, on Thursday. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Ahmed Jondeya, a newly released Palestinian who was detained by the Israeli army, is greeted by people, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters
Demonstrators have clashed with police officers at an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) over recent days. Photograph: Allison Dinner/EPA
Iraqi university students and professors carrying Palestinian flags during a rally at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad on Thursday in solidarity with Gaza and pro-Palestinian protests at US universities. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

The Times of Israel, citing a Saudi Asharq newspaper article, reports that Egypt will invite Israeli and Hamas delegations to Cairo “to try to bridge gaps over a hostage release deal”.

The risk of exposure to unexploded ordnance in Gaza is at its “most dangerous stage”, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has warned.

Highlighting the warning in its flash update, the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), reported that a 14-year-old boy was seriously injured and had to undergo limb amputations after opening a booby-trapped can of food.

Citing information shared by the Government Media Office (GMO) on 29 April, OCHA said that the can was found while the boy looked for belongings in his house in Khan Younis after it had been shelled by Israeli forces.

The OCHA writes:

The GMO indicated that many people have been recently injured due to the explosion of booby-trapped canned goods, urging the population to exercise maximum care.

Based on UN estimates of unexploded munitions, the GMO assessed that around 7,500 tons of unexploded ordnance (UXO) might be scattered throughout Gaza, appealing for assistance by the international community to remove explosive remnants of war (ERW) and mitigate the risk for civilians.

#Gaza:
⚠️ Streets and public spaces are littered with explosive remnants of war, posing health and safety issues.

⚠️ The risk of exposure to unexploded ordnance is at its “most dangerous stage,” warns @UNMAS.

⚠️ Over 10K people are estimated to be missing under rubble.

More ⬇️

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) May 1, 2024
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Summary of the day so far …

  • Israel’s war cabinet will meet at 6.30pm [3.30pm GMT] tonight to discuss “the next steps in negotiations to achieve a hostage deal”. The full security cabinet will meet afterwards. Earlier this week, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would launch a ground operation in Rafah regardless of whether there was a deal or not.

  • A senior Hamas official overnight has told the AFP news agency that at the moment the group’s response to the proposed truce deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar was “negative”, but that discussions were still under way. The official said Hamas “cannot under any circumstances raise the white flag or surrender to the conditions of the Israeli enemy.”

  • The outline of the hostage release programme that has been proposed is believed to be a 40 day pause in fighting while initially female hostages are released in batches of three every three days in return for Palestinian detainees. Hamas and other groups are believed to have seized and abducted about 250 people on 7 October from inside southern Israel, with 133 of them thought still held captive, not all of whom are believed to be alive.

  • At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, according to new figures released by the Hamas-led health ministry. During the same period 474 Palestinians including 116 children, have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem by either Israeli security forces or settlers. Israel says 263 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since it launched its ground offensive. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

  • Two people have been arrested after shouting verbal abuse and throwing stones and eggs at a demonstration being held by relatives of those held hostage in Gaza which was attempting to block a highway in Tel Aviv.

  • More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools in the US in the last couple of weeks during the protests about the Israel-Gaza conflict. You can follow our live coverage of that here.

  • The EU has offered Lebanon a financial package of €1bn (£855m / $1.07bn) which among other measures includes supporting Lebanon’s armed forces with equipment and training for border management.

  • Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has issued a statement after speaking to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell. He said there was a “need to end the Israeli regime’s crimes and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, without delay and precondition.”

  • Organisers of the Eurovision song contest in Sweden have said they will not allow people to bring in or display Palestinian flags at the event, in which Israel is competing.

International Rescue Committee UK has joined calls for the UK government to embargo arms sales to Israel. In a statement it said:

Israel’s ceaseless bombardment of Gaza is the most intense use of explosive weapons in a densely populated area this century. This, alongside the siege, has created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, rendering Gaza nearly uninhabitable and depriving almost all of the population – millions of people – of essential food, clean water, and healthcare for six months.

An estimated 45,000 bombs were dropped on Gaza’s population in the first 89 days of conflict alone … relentless Israeli bombardment has also severely inhibited the ability of humanitarian actors to provide lifesaving aid to Palestinians in desperate need in Gaza.

IRC UK is joining over 250 organisations to urge the UK Government to immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts and ammunition where there is a risk they may facilitate violations of international humanitarian law. In addition, the UK Government must leverage all its influence to achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of all hostages.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have had a phone call today.

“They spoke about efforts to release all hostages held by Hamas and about a ceasefire. Further improvements to humanitarian aid for the people in the Gaza Strip were also discussed,” Reuters reports a government spokesperson said in a statement.

Helena Smith
Helena Smith

Helena Smith is in Athens for the Guardian, with more details on the EU financial package for Lebanon:

Officials in Cyprus, who have pushed hard for an economic support package to be given to Lebanon, believe the financial aid will help the tiny country better manage migration, at a time when increased Middle East tensions have limited the ability of local authorities to curb flows.

The Mediterranean island, the EU’s easternmost member, has seen an unprecedented uptick in the arrival of boatloads of Syrians from Lebanon, with Nicosia appealing to Brussels for help.

Cyprus’ government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the economic aid package presented by European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen earlier today [See 10.05 BST] was “an initiative of president Christodoulides and the Republic of Cyprus and is a practical demonstration of the active role that the EU can play in the region.”

Israel's war cabinet to meet tonight to discuss ceasefire and hostage deal

The Times of Israel is reporting that Israel’s war cabinet will meet at 6.30pm tonight to discuss “the next steps in negotiations to achieve a hostage deal”.

It reports the full security cabinet will meet afterwards. The war cabinet consists of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defense minister Yoav Gallant, and minister without portfolio Benny Gantz.

There are also three non-voting observer members of the war cabinet, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot, minister for strategic affairs Ron Dermer, and the leader of Israel’s ultra-orthodox Shas party Aryeh Deri.

Still on Eurovision for a moment, Associated Press has announced that Palestinian flags will be banned from the event.

Michelle Roverelli, the head of communications for the European Broadcasting Union that runs the show each year, said ticket buyers are only allowed to bring and display flags that represent countries that take part in the event, as well as the rainbow-colored flag.

The Geneva-based EBU reserves the right “to remove any other flags or symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalizing the TV shows,” she told the Associated Press in a text message.

Reuters has spoken to Felix Krausz Sjögren, a guide at the synagogue in Malmö in Sweden, where the Eurovision song contest is being held next week. He told the news agency he was anxious about protests taking place because of Israel’s participation. He told them:

There’s a certain feeling of apprehension, of tension. I can’t say that I’m not worried. With Israel being in the Eurovision, the emotions will be even more heightened, and maybe the synagogue will be a target of protests. It’s not unthinkable.

Sjögren says he is nervous about wearing his Jewish kippah in public. “I probably wouldn’t do that during Eurovision week. I would be on the safe side and make sure to have something to cover it with.”

He said the Jewish community often invites school classes to the synagogue, and “If we have a class with many Muslim kids visiting, we often find that we have a lot in common. We have seen very positive encounters here. Eurovision will, of course, not be of help in that sense, but it will pass and then we’ll continue with our lives.”

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the contest, has refused calls for Israel to be banned from taking part for its actions in Gaza, in a similar way that Russia was banned for its invasion of fellow competitor Ukraine.

Israel’s song has, though, been rewritten at the EBU’s request, with its original title October Rain changed to Hurricane, as it was deemed to be a direct political reference to the Hamas assault inside southern Israel on 7 October.

Our community team would like to hear from students on US campuses, and those in the UK and other countries in Europe attending universities where demonstrations are taking place. They would like to hear from those who are participating as well as those who are not.

For those in the US, you can contact them via this page.

For those in Europe and the UK, you can contact them here.

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