Debris in Gaza amounts to 41.95 million metric tonnes: UN

The figure is up 83 percent from the nearly 23 million tonnes estimated on January 7.

The Israeli war has resulted in 14 times more debris than the combined total from all previous conflicts in the Palestinian territory since 2008, UNOSAT added.

The agency estimated that 114 kilogrammes (250 pounds) of debris were generated for each square metre in the Gaza Strip.

Nearly two-thirds of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed since the Israeli war on Gaza began in October, the UN Satellite Centre said.

“UNOSAT’s latest damage building assessment, based on satellite imagery … reveals that 151,265 structures have been affected in the Gaza Strip,” it added.

“Of these, 30 percent were destroyed, 12 percent severely damaged, 36 percent moderately damaged, and 20 percent possibly damaged, representing approximately 63 percent of the total structures in the region.”

The assessment was based on comparing imagery from May 2023 onward with images from July 6 this year.

In mid-July, a UN assessment showed a fleet of more than one hundred lorries would take 15 years to clear the besieged Gaza Strip of almost 40m tonnes of rubble in an operation costing between $500m (£394m) and $600m.

In May, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said rebuilding homes in Gaza destroyed during the war could take until 2040 in the most optimistic scenario, with total reconstruction across the territory costing as much as $40bn. That assessment, which was published as part of a push to raise funds for early planning for the rehabilitation of Gaza, also found the conflict could reduce levels of health, education and wealth in the territory to those of 1980, wiping out 44 years of development.

The war began when Hamas launched a surprise attack into southern Israel in October, killing 1,200 people. Nearly 39,500 people have now been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials in the territory.