Gaza Strip - Interim Damage Assessment Summary Note- March 29, 2024

This interim damage assessment note provides a preliminary estimate of the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip up to the end of January 2024.

The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip has caused loss of life, forced displacement, and damages to social, physical, and productive infrastructure at an unprecedented speed and scale. The United Nations (UN), European Union (EU) and other humanitarian and development partners have repeatedly called it an extremely severe humanitarian crisis.

While physical destruction in Gaza is severe in every sector of the economy, the housing sector and population centers have sustained the majority of damages. As of end of January 2024, direct damage of around US$18.5 billion has been inflicted on the built infrastructure of Gaza, equivalent to 97% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of West Bank & Gaza in 2022. Over four fifths of damages are concentrated in the two sectors of residential buildings (72% of the total) and the commerce, industry, and services sector (9% of the total) with the remaining 19% of damages sustained on other critical infrastructure and services such as education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health, energy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), municipal services, and transport. Nearly 80% of total damage occurred in the governorates of Gaza, North Gaza, and Khan Younis.