Gaza City : Gazans are struggling in the wake of Israeli shelling and air strikes that have reduced much of the Palestinian enclave to rubble.
Initial estimates suggest it could cost up to $6 billion to rebuild Gaza’s infrastructure and thousands of destroyed homes. At least 175 factories were hit, and an attack on Gaza’s only power plant left homes and hospitals with just a few hours of access to electricity daily. A month of fighting will cost the Palestinian territory at least $4-6 billion in damages, deputy economy minister Taysir Amro said Tuesday. Amro told AFP the figure included only “direct damages” to the Gaza economy and warned it could climb further once additional impacts on the 1.8 million population are taken into account. A more precise assessment would be carried out once calm returns permanently to the overpopulated sliver of territory. Amro said international donors were expected to meet in Norway in September, but gave no further details. A 72-hour truce, brokered by Egypt and the United States, came into effect at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Tuesday as the last Israeli troops left the battered enclave. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and last week the Gaza Strip’s only power plant was shelled, imposing total blackouts.