GAZA ECONOMY:RAMALLAH – Destruction caused by the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has cost the Palestinian economy at least $1.4 billion (€1.05 billion), Palestinian officials have said.
The Palestinian Statistics Bureau said some 26,000 Gazans unable to live at home were being housed in emergency temporary shelters. It estimated that some 20,000 residential buildings had been damaged in Israeli air, sea and ground attacks, and that some 4,000 had been totally destroyed.
Surveyors reporting to the bureau said public buildings were also destroyed, including 18 schools and university buildings, roads, bridges, power lines and water and sewerage lines.
The bureau put the cost of reconstruction at close to $1 billion, with daily losses of revenues amounting to an additional $420,000. With fighting continuing, it said the final cost could be much higher. “The Gaza Strip has become a humanitarian, social and economic disaster area because of Israeli aggression,” said bureau director Loay Shabane. – (Reuters)