IMF and World Bank members consider Gaza reconstruction and upcoming challenges

(Patria) - Senior financial officials from around the world this week emphasized their readiness to help rebuild the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, as the World Bank and the United Nations work to finalize a new cost assessment of seventy billion dollars, Reuters reported.

Members of the Development Committee, which advises the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, discussed the challenges during a meeting on Thursday, said World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

"We are all very, very grateful that there is a ceasefire and that the killing has stopped, that the hostages have been returned home, that Palestinians can get food," Okonjo-Iweala said.

"We hope that this will only lead to the next phase and that it will happen peacefully."

The ceasefire, brokered by the United States between Israel and Hamas, halted a two-year devastating war, but UN officials say aid convoys are struggling to reach famine-stricken areas of northern Gaza due to war-damaged roads and the closure of key routes.

The UN World Food Programme said an average of 560 metric tons of food was entering the Gaza Strip daily since the ceasefire agreement was signed, but that this remains significantly below the volume needed.

Okonjo-Iweala said the Development Committee discussed the reconstruction of Gaza and what form it might take, with World Bank officials expressing readiness to cooperate with people in the region and others.

"We want to help. So we just hope this means a way forward and normalization of life... so people can return to their normal lives," she said. "It will take a long time."

Haoliang Xu, acting administrator of the UN Development Programme, told Reuters that conditions for reconstruction have not yet been met. He said plans for a reconstruction conference are taking shape, but the timing has not yet been set.

"The problem is where to start?" Xu said, citing the latest UN estimates that over 61 million tons of debris had to be removed from the area.

"We are capable, we can do it, but the conditions must be right. We need the hostages to be released, the bodies to be released," he said.

Shelter is another major need, he said, noting that winter is coming.

The World Bank, the UN and the European Union estimated in February that rebuilding Gaza would cost more than fifty billion dollars and are finalizing a new interim assessment of seventy billion dollars.