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| 81% of buildings in Gaza destroyed. |
Gaza sits under 68 million tons of rubble.
Among my first thoughts was this question: How much equipment is there in Gaza for removing this debris? According to Google, as of late 2025, there are a critically low number of functional bulldozers and earthmovers in Gaza for humanitarian work due to the ongoing conflict. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reports only nine working excavators (that is, bulldozers and earthmovers), 67 wheel loaders, and 75 dump trucks available for debris removal.
How long, then, will it take to move this rubble, to where?
Well, as of a recent report, only a handful of excavators, forklifts, and dump trucks are operational in the region. How many bulldozer repair shops are still in business there?
Add this into the mix: currently there are thousands of unexploded bombs, missiles and artillery shells mixed in with the debris. The authorization for the necessary equipment and supplies to neutralize these threats has been a major bottleneck.
Removing all this debris is also hamstrung by the extensive destruction of roads and transportation infrastructure.
And finally, where is the equipment necessary to crush and recycle concrete debris so it can be recycled? With the small crushers currently available in Gaza, processing the viable rubble could take decades.
According to the WSJ piece, 81% of the buildings in Gaza were destroyed.
The "clean up" will take seven years and cost a billion dollars, they say.
Really? I'll believe it when I see it.
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RELATED: In the devastating aftermath of a conflict that has transformed the urban landscape of the Gaza Strip into a dystopian expanse of ruins, the international community is beginning to grasp the colossal scale of the cleanup required before any reconstruction can even be contemplated.
--Kurdistan24
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