By Haseeb Alwazeer
GAZA, April 27 (Reuters) - Palestinians are using war rubble to repave streets destroyed during Israel's two-year assault on Gaza, crushing concrete and metal into pavement under a U.N.-run project they hope will mark a first step toward rehabilitating their damaged cities.
The project run by the United Nations Development Programme comes as progress stalls in U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, meant to build on an October Israel-Hamas ceasefire by surging aid and rebuilding
the enclave from scratch.
It marks a bid by the U.N. and Palestinians to use locally available machinery to clear mountains of rubble that officials say is blocking access to water wells and hospitals and making it difficult to get the economy going again.
CRUSHING AND REUSING RUBBLE
Alessandro Mrakic, head of UNDP's Gaza office, said the territory faces one of the largest post-war clearance challenges in memory with an estimated 61 million tons of rubble.
"Beyond the collection (of rubble), we have started sorting, we have started crushing, and, as such, reusing it," Mrakic said. "We have used almost the same amount that we have collected."
Mrakic said UNDP teams, staffed by Palestinian workers, were using the rubble "to rehabilitate roads and pave areas for shelter and community kitchens".
In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Palestinians were operating heavy machinery to tear through mountains of destroyed concrete, sending plumes of dust into the air as workers picked through the twisted steel and rubble of damaged buildings.
Progress is being slowed by dangers hidden beneath the debris, officials say. Before rubble can be removed, sites must be checked for unexploded ordnance, in coordination with the U.N.'s mine service.
For Palestinian workers, the risks are tangible.
"I can't find any other source of income, that is why I do this work. (You) could get hurt," said Ibrahim al‑Sarsawi, 32.
He said the work site's location near the Israel-Hamas armistice line meant he could be exposed to stray Israeli fire.
JUST THE 'TIP OF THE ICEBERG'
Gaza rubble clearance could take seven years to complete, UNDP says, assuming accelerated, unimpeded access for heavy machinery and consistent fuel supplies, which are generally scarce in Gaza under Israeli restrictions.
Israel cites security concerns for its restrictions in Gaza, where it launched its assault following Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
UNDP has so far removed about 287,000 tons of rubble - but that is just the "tip of the iceberg", according to Mrakic.
Recovery and reconstruction in the tiny territory will require $71.4 billion over the next decade, according to a final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment released this month by the European Union, United Nations, and World Bank.
"The war is over, but (this) is the beginning of a new war," said Sobhi Dawoud, 60, a displaced Palestinian living in a tent encampment in Khan Younis.
This "new war", he added, is one "of reconstruction, the beginning of removing the rubble, and (fixing) infrastructure, electricity, water, sewage, schools, and streets."
(Reporting by Haseeb Alwazeer in Gaza. Additional reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi in CairoEditing by Gareth Jones )
