Policy papers and recommendations
/ Gaza
The Iron Swords War, which broke out after the October 7, 2023, massacre, led to regionally and internationally unprecedented levels of infrastructure destruction in the Gaza Strip. During the war, approximately 192,000 buildings were damaged, and approximately 3,045 kilometers of roads and streets were destroyed. This destruction translates into extremely large volumes of construction waste, estimated at between 67 and 126 million tons (depending on different scenarios). This exceeds the capabilities of conventional methods based on removal and landfilling to successfully handle the task and requires new systemic thinking.
This document presents a multidimensional model for environmental and diplomatic reconstruction, based on the principles of the circular economy. The proposed approach strives to transform construction waste from an environmental burden into a resource for reconstruction: reducing the mining of new raw materials, extending the life cycle of existing materials, and reintegrating them into construction and infrastructure processes. Because any future reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip will take place in an environment saturated with waste, addressing it is at the heart of environmental and diplomatic processes. The document recommends a shift from a “removal and landfilling” approach to a strategy that utilizes construction waste as an essential resource for the economic, environment and social rehabilitation of the area.
