The Hidden Cost of Rebuilding Gaza: Rubble, Politics, and the Search for Justice

• An estimated 61 million tonnes of debris conceals unexploded ordnance, human remains, and potential evidence of war crimes.
• Clearing the rubble could take up to 14 years, with decisions about what is removed carrying profound humanitarian and political consequences.

Updated 19 minutes ago

October 7, 2026 02:29

LONDON: Recent satellite imagery has revealed the sheer scale of destruction in Gaza. Yet, beneath the rubble covering large swathes of the enclave, what remains hidden is far more difficult to quantify — and vastly more consequential. The latest United Nations estimates put the volume of debris at approximately 61 million tonnes—roughly 33 times the amount of rubble cleared from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan following the September 11, 2001, attacks. At Fresh Kills, once the world’s largest landfill in Staten Island, thousands of workers and investigators sifted through the debris of the World Trade Center to recover evidence, personal belongings, and human remains. Gaza now faces a task far larger and more complex. Beneath mountains of pulverized concrete lie unexploded ordnance, hazardous materials, personal belongings, and the remains of thousands of individuals yet to be recovered. Clearing the rubble is therefore not merely a logistical challenge; it is also a profound humanitarian, environmental, forensic, and political endeavor, representing an essential first step toward any future recovery.

Three years of conflict have left Gaza almost uninhabitable. UN estimates indicate that 82 percent of buildings have been damaged, with at least two-thirds of those completely destroyed, resulting in an estimated 169 kg of debris per square meter across the territory. The scale of destruction has continued to escalate despite the ceasefire, with estimates rising from approximately 40 million tonnes in the summer of 2024 to over 60 million today. Precise figures remain difficult to establish due to widespread inaccessibility and ongoing clearance operations within an active conflict zone. So far, about 580 kilometers of roads have been cleared to facilitate aid deliveries and the resumption of essential services, though some routes have had to be cleared multiple times following subsequent strikes.

“The estimate of the total amount of rubble in Gaza is 61 million tonnes,” said Jaco Cilliers, the UN Development Programme’s special representative in Palestine, speaking to The Guardian. “It is approximately 20 times the amount of rubble generated in all global conflicts over the past 18 years.” While Arab News could not independently verify this figure, the catastrophic scale of destruction in the territory remains undisputed.

A United Nations Environment Programme report released in July 2025 estimated that 8 million tonnes of Gaza’s debris could be hazardous, including nearly 5 million tonnes potentially contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen. Unexploded ordnance presents another severe hazard. According to an Arab News estimate based on the volume of explosives dropped on Gaza and typical failure rates, the quantity of unexploded munitions could reach approximately 7,000 tonnes. Since clearance operations expanded, the UN Mine Action Service and partner teams have identified and marked hundreds of surface and buried explosive items, including aerial bombs, mortars, rockets, and improvised devices. Progress remains slow, however, constrained by limited operational capacity.

The hazards extend beyond explosions. Much like the first responders at Ground Zero, Gazans face severe health risks from respiratory illnesses caused by concrete dust and other toxic materials. Gaza has recorded hundreds of thousands of acute respiratory infections since the conflict began on October 7, 2023, although the precise link between these infections and the rubble remains difficult to establish.

The recovery of human remains buried beneath the debris also demands extreme sensitivity and care. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that between 8,000 and 10,000 bodies may still be trapped under the rubble, some in advanced stages of decomposition, requiring highly specialized equipment and forensic procedures.

Partially standing structures present another significant danger. Described by officials as “death traps,” these buildings can collapse without warning as residents attempt to return to homes they believe are safe. Consequently, assessing and stabilizing damaged structures before allowing people to return is a central component of the recovery effort.

Progress, however, remains slow. To date, approximately 907,000 tonnes of debris have been removed—representing roughly 1.5 percent of the total—with about one-third of that material recycled. At the current pace, the UN estimates that the complete clearance operation could take between seven and fourteen years.

Access remains a major obstacle. Israeli forces occupy large portions of Gaza, leaving barely 30 percent of the territory accessible to civilians and aid workers, which severely complicates the question of where to relocate the debris. International agencies have also repeatedly highlighted Israeli restrictions on the entry of equipment and services. Israel has banned “dual-use” items that it claims could benefit Hamas, preventing heavy and specialized clearance equipment from entering the territory.

Clearance teams currently rely on seven crushers to process the rubble, all of which were already in Gaza before the conflict began. Local engineers successfully rebuilt two of these crushers over the past year. However, most of the equipment is severely worn and prone to frequent breakdowns, exacerbated by severe shortages of spare parts and engine oil. In this operational vacuum, local residents and workers attempt to fill the gap as best they can. Civil defense personnel, volunteers, and families have frequently resorted to digging through concrete, sand, and debris using bare hands, shovels, hammers, and metal bars.

Despite these severe limitations, the UNDP is striving to transform the debris into a usable resource. The agency manages five crushing sites—two in Gaza City, two in Deir Al-Balah, and one in Khan Younis. Debris from roads and damaged infrastructure is stripped of metal and steel rods, then crushed to the approximate size of a marble for reuse. In this context, the UNDP describes recycling as a “practical necessity.” The agency estimates that recycling 50 percent of the debris, though immensely challenging, could reduce the overall clearance cost by approximately 20 percent. The entire operation is estimated to cost $1.2 billion.

The challenge is not merely technical; rubble clearance also carries profound legal and governance implications. Under international humanitarian law, parties conducting attacks must facilitate the recovery of the wounded and dead, while occupying powers are obligated to ensure public order, civic life, and safe living conditions, including essential infrastructure.

The United States has pressed Israel to oversee and fund the initial large-scale removal of debris. However, many experts argue that Israel effectively controls the operation at arm’s length. They contend that Israel leverages poor coordination between the UNDP and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)—which handle the physical clearance—and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

The NCAG, a body of Palestinian technocrats supervised by the US-led Board of Peace, is intended to manage governance and planning.

“Israel’s control over border crossings, territory, and the entry of equipment grants it enormous power over both the pace and character of rubble removal,” Ahmed Najar, a Palestinian political analyst, told Arab News. “This transforms a supposedly technical process into a political instrument: Israel can destroy Gaza at extraordinary speed while retaining effective control over how slowly Palestinians are permitted to clear and rebuild it.”

For Najar, the absence of a legitimate and independent governing authority introduces further risks. “Decisions regarding which neighborhoods are cleared first, where the rubble is transported, and whether residents can return are never politically neutral,” Najar noted. “If these decisions are controlled by Israel, foreign contractors, or an externally imposed body unaccountable to Palestinians, rubble removal could facilitate permanent displacement and reshape Gaza without the consent of its people.”

The clearance process also raises critical questions regarding evidence. If operations are rushed, poorly documented, or controlled by parties to the conflict, vital evidence of indiscriminate or disproportionate strikes and potential atrocity crimes could be lost. “Gaza’s rubble is not simply construction waste; in many places, it is also a crime scene,” Najar explained. “The location and spatial relationship of this evidence are often as important as the physical objects themselves. If rubble is moved, crushed, mixed, or discarded without first being mapped, photographed, and examined, that context can be permanently lost.” He warned that human remains may become impossible to identify, munition fragments could disappear, and the chain of custody necessary for future legal proceedings may be broken.

He warned that unregulated debris removal, particularly in areas under Israeli military control, “could erase evidence of war crimes and other atrocity crimes under the guise of reconstruction.”

Experts have raised significant concerns regarding large-scale clearance operations in Israeli-controlled areas. Nevertheless, the Israeli military utilizes heavy machinery to clear, level, and transport rubble in areas under its immediate control, primarily around tactical military installations.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has stated that such operations could violate the Genocide Convention and contravene the International Court of Justice’s 2024 order requiring Israel to preserve evidence. She added that they could serve as another mechanism for entrenching Israel’s illegal occupation.

Najar argued that Israel, as an accused party in the case, should not be permitted to control the crime scene or determine what evidence is preserved and what disappears. “This does not mean that Gaza’s population should be forced to live amidst dangerous ruins while investigations proceed,” he clarified. “It means that clearance operations must be meticulously organized.”

Healing, he noted, begins with this process, but it must be approached with utmost care. “Rubble removal will be presented as the beginning of Gaza’s recovery,” he observed. “But unless it is Palestinian-led, independently monitored, and tied to accountability, it could instead become the final stage of destroying the evidence, dispossessing survivors, and deciding Gaza’s future without them.”

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