The spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Jonathan Fowler said yesterday that the level of destruction left by the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip is extremely high and will require more than 20 years to erase and rebuild.

Fowler added in statements reported by the Palestinian news agency SAMA that the reconstruction will be an enormous task, especially when rebuilding the education system, welcoming children and ensuring their return to schools, and rebuilding the damaged clinics.

He attributed the difficulty of the reconstruction process in Gaza to the extremely high level of destruction; mounds and piles of rubble and debris, in addition to the people living among the ruins, and the areas filled with bombs and unexploded ordnance.

The UN official explained that UNRWA has paid an extraordinary price due to the war, losing 192 of its staff since October 7th, a number not witnessed since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.

He pointed out that about 170 UNRWA facilities in the Gaza Strip have been bombed, suffering damage to varying degrees.

Fowler explained that the most affected facilities are schools due to the halt in education since the beginning of the aggression, turning into emergency shelters for citizens who fled there seeking a safe place under the protection of the United Nations flag.

He noted that around 450 Palestinians have been martyred and more than 1,400 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on UNRWA facilities or near them since the beginning of the aggression.

Fowler stated that there is a pattern of Israeli disregard for the United Nations flag and its sites, as there is no ambiguity about the location of our sites; nevertheless, we have witnessed direct strikes on our buildings.

He affirmed that UNRWA will continue to operate in Gaza despite Israeli calls to replace it with other UN agencies, saying: “We are mandated by the United Nations General Assembly, and we have a very specific mission.”

UNRWA was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and it was mandated to provide assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.