Under US pressure, Israel to take over rubble clearing in devastated Gaza Strip – report

Israel has agreed to a request from the United States to take over responsibility for clearing the vast amount of rubble covering the Gaza Strip after two years of fighting, Ynet News reported, citing a senior Israeli official.

Israel has agreed in principle to take physical and financial responsibility for removing the debris, which is estimated to take years and could cost hundreds of millions of shekels.

According to the report, the U.S. sees clearing the rubble as the first step toward reconstructing the enclave according to Phase Two of the ceasefire agreement and aims to start rebuilding in the southern town of Rafah to showcase U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision for reconstruction.

American officials said that Rafah is intended to serve as a pilot area designed to attract Gaza residents for employment and to build broader support for the reconstruction effort.

Israel is expected to hire specialized companies to clear the debris, the report said.

A recent Wall Street Journal report estimated the volume of rubble in Gaza to be roughly 68 million tons. “That is equivalent to the weight of around 186 Empire State Buildings. Distributing that amount of rubble evenly across Manhattan would leave around 215 pounds of debris on every square foot,” according to the WSJ.

In November, the UN Development Program (UNDP) estimated that most of it could be cleared within seven years. “One hopes that it will happen as quickly as possible, but it will take years,” said Jaco Cilliers, head of UNDP’s operations in the Palestinian Territories. “The best-case scenario is that it will take at least five, [but] more like seven years.”

The UN said that a review of the satellite images suggests there were more than 123,000 destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip, and an additional 75,000 damaged to varying degrees, accounting for 81% of all the structures.

In addition to the remains of destroyed structures, the rubble contains unexploded ordnance. Israeli officials estimate that 1-2% of Israeli projectiles could have failed to explode, some of which Hamas has used to extract explosives during the war.

The Israel Defense Forces have highlighted that over 10% of Hamas’ rockets failed to cross into Israel and either exploded or fell within Gaza.

Hamas’ health authorities also claim that the bodies of some 10,000 people are trapped under rubble.

The work to move and clear the debris has not begun in earnest, as Israel still limits the entry of the required heavy machinery, which is categorized as “dual-use,” as Hamas terrorists could use it to repair or construct new tunnels.

UNDP has used the limited equipment available to collect or repurpose some 209,000 tons of debris so far.

The UN estimates that overall reconstruction will cost around $70 billion, which the Trump administration hopes will be paid in large part by the Gulf states. However, Qatar recently said it wouldn’t “write the check to rebuild what others destroyed,” according to Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani.

“Our payments will only go to help the Palestinian people if we see that the help coming to them is insufficient,” Al Thani added. A spokesperson later clarified that Qatar doesn’t want to be the only state paying for the rebuilding effort.

Israeli officials told Ynet News that Israel is concerned about Washington’s apparent focus on reconstruction over demilitarization.

Jerusalem also continues to refuse to begin the next stage of the ceasefire before Hamas returns the body of hostage Ran Gvili, insisting on a commitment to disarm the terror group and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.