Amid Israel’s ongoing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, Banga said the World Bank board had voted recently to increase its assistance to the Palestinian Authority for use in Gaza to $300 million, six times the figure for the previous year.
Israel has been at war with Hamas since the October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which the UN considers reliable.
The World Bank now estimates the cost of reconstruction in Gaza at more than $14 billion, Banga said, adding that the bank had formed a group composed of Palestinians, Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians, the European Union and the United States, to look at how to rebuild after the war ends.
“There are a number of Middle Eastern countries — Saudi Arabia, for example — who are very interested in contributing to this thinking, because they see that redoing this the right way is the best, longer-term solution for economic growth there,” he said.
“So I think we’ll get more partners on board over the coming month or two,” he added.
da/jgc
By Daniel Avis
AFP
