ALBAWABA - Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank, announced that the estimated cost of destruction from the Gaza war is approximately $20 billion to date. He warned that this figure will likely impact the global economy.
Gaza war destruction
During his interview with Reuters yesterday, Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank, said that the overall war damage in Gaza district from Israeli strikes is estimated at approximately $14-20 billion. According to Banga, this will significantly impact the global economy.
"First of all, I think this unbelievable loss of life - women, children, others, civilians, is just unconscionable on all sides," Banga said. "The economic impact of this war, on the other hand, depends a great deal on how much this spreads.
If it spreads regionally, then it becomes a completely different issue because now you start going into places that are far larger contributors to the world economy, both in terms of dollars, but also in terms of minerals and metals and oil and the like. We're going to have to figure out how to have that publicly discussed and debated and then find the resources for it," Banga said during his interview with Reuters.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the strip so far since 2023. (Shutterstock)
Banga also noted that the ongoing destruction from Israeli bombing in southern Lebanon will further increase global costs. The expansion of the conflict could involve other countries that contribute to global growth, including commodity exporters.
World Bank aids to Palestine
Banga mentioned that the World Bank provided nearly $300 million to the Palestinian Authority to help manage the crisis in the country, but the amount is low compared to the huge damage caused.
It is worth mentioning that Israel launched its military strikes on Gaza on October 7, 2023, shortly after the Hamas attack which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli sources. More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the strip so far since 2023.
Additionally, the Israeli strikes in Lebanon also killed nearly 2,350 people, wounded almost 11,000, and displaced about 1.2 million people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Banga concluded the interview by stating that a team of experts from Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Europe, the U.S., and Egypt, representing the Multilateral Development Bank (MDB)—a financial institution governed by international law—met to discuss possible short/ long-term actions for achieving a peace agreement in the region.
