Follow Safa| Ahmed Abu Qamar, expert in economic matters:
The destruction in the Gaza Strip extended from houses and facilities to the hinges on which life and the economy are based, from roads and electricity to water, sanitation and communications, which turned the reconstruction into a battle that goes beyond the construction of buildings to the restoration of the components of economic activity. According to data from the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT), more than 200,000 buildings have been damaged, equivalent to 82% of the total number of buildings, as of June 16, 2026, including more than 134,000 buildings destroyed, while the number of damaged residential units exceeded 328,000 units. Data shows that about 87% of the road network was destroyed or damaged, while about 90% of the water and sanitation infrastructures, and about 90% of the energy infrastructures, were damaged or destroyed. The genocidal war also destroyed 81% of communications and information technology assets, while the rest were damaged. The effects of these numbers are not limited to property losses, but mean higher costs for transporting food and fuel, disruption of the water supply, difficulty in operating health facilities and providing public services, and an increase in the cost of any production or commercial activity. The damage to the transportation sector was estimated at about 3.21 billion dollars, the water and sanitation sector at about 1.7 billion dollars, municipal services at about 620 million dollars, energy at about 570 million dollars and communication at about 200 million dollars. The reconstruction is not limited to building houses, but begins with the clearing of ruins and the repair of roads, water, electricity and sanitation, as they are the basic infrastructure needed to return residents, renew production and revive markets and economic activity. As restrictions on the entry of heavy equipment, spare parts, fuel and maintenance materials continue, repair work goes awry and the cost of recovery rises, while emergency solutions remain limited and unsustainable.