Beyond the Headlines: What would it take to restore normality to life in Gaza?

What normal life is like for the rest of the world does not apply in Gaza and it almost never has.

Even before October 7, electricity came on for an average of only four to six hours a day and nearly 98 per cent of the water was undrinkable. Transport options were always limited and housing was a challenge in one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Now, after more than six months of war, about 50 to 70 per cent of that housing has been destroyed. The cost of damage between October and January alone was estimated by the World Bank at $18.5 billion.

In this week’s Beyond The Headlines, host Nada AlTaher explores whether life in Gaza can ever go back to any kind of normality, looking at the path to rebuilding the strip and the mammoth task at hand. She speaks to Rami Al Azzeh, economist with the Assistance to the Palestinian People Unit at UNCTAD, and Amira Aker, a postdoctoral fellow at Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada, who specialises in epidemiology and environmental health.