Israel-Hamas war has led to destruction of critical infrastructure worth $18.5 billion in Gaza: World Bank
Israel-Hamas war: The rising death toll in Gaza has captured all the headlines since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. With more than 32,000 people dead, mostly innocent women and children, the international agencies have termed the war catastrophic for the Palestinians in Gaza.
A recent report released jointly by the United Nations and World Bank outlined the financial implications of the Israel-Hamas war as it estimated that $1.8 billion worth of critical infrastructure in Gaza has been damaged due to the war. The 1.8 billion dollar amount is around 97% of the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022.
Nearly 80% of total damage occurred in the governorates of Gaza, North Gaza, and Khan Younis, the report said. “Over four-fifths of damages are concentrated in the two sectors of residential buildings (72% of the total) and the commerce, industry, and services sector (9% of the total) with the remaining 19% of damages sustained on other critical infrastructure and services such as education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health, energy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), municipal services, and transport," it added.
The war between Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and the terrorist group Hamas was triggered on October 7, 2023 after hundreds of Hamas militants barged into Israeli territory and killed more than 1,400 hundred people. The Hamas terrorists also took more than 200 people hostage, and around 150 of them still remain in captivity in Gaza.
Israel has responded strongly against the terror attacks and most of the Gaza infrastructure was demolished in its air raids over the terrorists with more than 32,000 people killed. The interim damage assessment report also mentioned
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