Home WebMail | Calgary | 16.4°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Action News
  • World
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Africa
    • Americas
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Contact
  • Breaking News
  • Latest Updates
  • Featured
  • Live
  • Live Now
  • More Gaza flotilla activists allege mistreatment in Israeli detention
  • UK police probe suspected arson attack on mosque as ‘hate crime’
  • Russell wins Singapore GP for Mercedes; McLaren secure constructors’ title
  • Why is ADL, the Jewish advocacy group, receiving blowback from MAGA?
  • Moldova’s vote is one more sign of Russia’s weakness in its ‘near abroad’
  • Video: Here’s how Syria is electing its first post-Assad parliament
  • Five killed across Ukraine in overnight Russian attacks
  • Syria’s election is “a historic moment” in its transition
  • Georgia protesters try to storm presidential palace in Tbilisi
  • Gaza bombarded despite Donald Trump telling Israel to stop
  • To end the starvation in Gaza, bring back UNRWA
  • Freed flotilla activists describe mistreatment in Israeli detention
  • Accept Trump Gaza plan or pander to far-right, Netanyahu must decide
  • Video: Huge pro-Palestinian protests held in cities across Europe
  • Everything you need to know about Syria’s first post-Assad elections
  • Georgia PM says storming of presidential palace aimed at overthrowing gov’t
  • When stones fell from the sky: The night an Afghan village was destroyed
  • Hundreds of thousands turn out at pro-Palestine marches across Europe
  • MotoGP Indonesia: Aldeguer wins first race as Marquez injured on lap 1
  • At least 47 killed in Nepal as heavy rains trigger landslides, flash floods
  • A deadly obsession with True Crime in Korea | True Crime Reports
  • Syria counts votes after indirect election for first post-Assad parliament
  • Nairobi’s ‘Birdman’: Rescuing raptors on the streets of Kenya’s capital
  • Al-Shabab fighters killed in Mogadishu prison assault, Somalia confirms
  • Week in Pictures: From Pro-Gaza protests in Europe to floods in Sudan

Gaza transformed into rubble-strewn wasteland after Israeli bombardment

By Al Jazeera Published 2025-02-05 03:52 Updated 2025-02-05 05:08 Source: Al Jazeera

Israeli bombardment and ground operations in Gaza have transformed entire neighbourhoods into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching out in all directions.

Major roads have been ploughed up. Critical water and electricity infrastructure is in ruins. Most hospitals no longer function.

The United Nations says that it could take more than 350 years to rebuild if the blockade remains.

The full extent of the damage will only be known when the fighting ends and inspectors have full access to the territory.

The most heavily destroyed part of Gaza, in the north, had been sealed off and largely depopulated by Israeli forces in an operation that began in early October.

Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated last month that 69 percent of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including at least 245,000 homes.

The World Bank estimated $18.5bn in damage – nearly the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022 – from just the first four months of the war.

Before anything can be rebuilt, the rubble must be removed – a staggering task in itself.

The UN estimates that the war has littered Gaza with at least 50 million tonnes of rubble – roughly 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. With more than 100 trucks working full time, it would take more than 15 years to clear the rubble, and there is little open space in the narrow coastal territory that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.