More than 30 proposals put forward for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip highlight fundamentally different visions for Gaza’s urban and economic structures, according to a new analysis by the London-based nonprofit The Portland Trust.
The Palestinian territory was heavily damaged following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, which triggered a war with Israel. Since then, more than 30 organizations have put forward substantive reconstruction plans, which the trust has now analyzed and compared for the first time.
While organizations such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) focus on restoring housing to a more resilient version of pre-war conditions, others see the reconstruction period as an opportunity to redesign Gaza’s urban layout. Similar to the UNDP, the Arab League calls for large-scale housing reconstruction, prioritizing the return of displaced residents and rejecting a major reconfiguration of Gaza’s layout.
A range of planning initiatives, including those by RAND, Palestine Emerging, Anthedon, and Connected Gaza, emphasize improved spatial organization and expanded transport networks in their visions for the territory.
The Board of Peace, by contrast, proposes a model centered on new residential complexes alongside designated tourism and development zones.
With 1.9 million Palestinians displaced into temporary housing or tents, the issue of sanitation and water access has become a key concern, especially in recent months, as numerous groups have warned of rat infestations and health crises caused by a lack of access to essential infrastructure.
The World Health Organization reported about 17,000 pest-related infections in the territory over the past year, prompting the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) to deliver pesticides to Gaza earlier this month.
Existing vs new infrastructure for water, sanitation
Approaches to water and sanitation in Gaza differ in both strategy and emphasis. Some actors, including the Palestinian Authority and the UNDP, have prioritized repairing existing infrastructure in their plans, focusing on rehabilitating desalination plants and wastewater facilities. These plans aim to prevent sewage overflows and restore basic services, enabling displaced residents to return home. This approach prioritizes the rapid recovery of essential systems over long-term structural redesign.
Other organizations, such as the Arab League and Future Gaza, favor modernizing sanitation infrastructure by expanding desalination capacity, establishing new treatment plants, and creating integrated utility corridors within redesigned urban districts.
Less common among major reconstruction frameworks is a focus on decentralized, renewable desalination and wastewater reuse infrastructure, though such plans were put forward by Phoenix and Green Vision.
Competing solutions for Gazan economy
The organizations have also offered alternative solutions to kick-start the Gazan economy, which the trust stressed is a key element in reconstructing the strip. The proposals vary from subsistence-based models to public-works-driven systems, investment-oriented economies, or more autonomous economic structures.
The UNDP prioritizes financial stabilization through humanitarian recovery tools, support for small businesses, and the restoration of basic market functions and essential services. This model focuses on rapid recovery and stabilization in the Gaza Strip, with an emphasis on empowering small and medium-sized enterprises.
The PA, by contrast, envisions reconstruction as a catalyst for employment, believing large-scale public works, a revived private sector, and the restoration of production will provide necessary employment and funding opportunities. Similar to the Arab League’s model, the PA calls for a financing framework to mobilize donors and coordinate investment across sectors.
A third approach, associated with the Board of Peace and several smaller organizations, emphasizes long-term economic development centered on productive sectors, including strategies to create an investable economy focused on tourism and real estate.
The majority of plans rely on pooled donor financing and international public–private partnerships, concessions, or foreign direct investment, though some organizations have proposed economy-wide plans based on contributions from the Palestinian diaspora, local production, and labor-driven reconstruction.
Concerningly, the trust noted that many of the proposals have failed to account for long-term fiscal sustainability, and the success of plans largely depends on open-ended capital. The majority of the proposals don’t offer insights into how infrastructure, municipal services, and public institutions would be financed and operated in the long-term.
Touched by Hamas’s corruption since the terror group seized control, the issue of accountability and transparency mechanisms has also been inadequately addressed in the majority of plans, according to the analysis. There needs to be oversight, monitoring, and a system ensuring public accountability for the funds, it said.