The first steps towards rebuilding Gaza after the devastating war are underway.  The United Nations brokered a deal with Israel and the Palestinians to give the Palestinian Authority the lead role in rebuilding the strip, with heavy involvement from the private sector.  The UN will monitor to ensure construction materials aren’t diverted from civilian to military uses, especially the tunnels that Israel says were used for smuggling and launching terrorist attacks.

The UN’s top Middle East envoy Robert Serry told the Security Council that he witnessed “truly shocking levels of destruction to infrastructure, hospitals and schools” during his visit to Gaza last week.

Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out.  18,000 houses are destroyed or seriously damaged.  100,000 people have lost their homes, and 65,000 Palestinians are still living out of the UN shelters that are left – 111 UN facilities were damaged.

“The Gaza conflict is an appalling human tragedy, and has also exacted a terrible cost in already strained trust,” Serry said.  “While the cease-fire brokered by Egypt has largely held since 16 August it remains worryingly fragile with the underlying dynamics still unaddressed.”

The price tag is expected to be US$4 Billion, and the effort will take at least five years.

On 12 October, Egypt will host a donors’ conference to fund Gaza’s reconstruction.  Serry hopes to avoid a repeat of the donors conference in 2009 during which a lot of pledges were made to fund rebuilding in Gaza, “but there was no possibility to implement these projects” because of Israeli and Egyptian interference in getting construction materials into the Gaza Strip.