After Israel’s bombs caused ‘almost total devastation,’ Rafah faces a daunting process to rebuild

Months of Israeli aerial bombardment have hammered the city and caused “almost total devastation,” Khaled Mohamed Al-Sheikh Eid, an engineer heading the debris removal and roads opening committee for the municipality of Rafah, told NBC News’ ground crew Wednesday.

“We were very surprised by the extent of the destruction and debris on the roads,” Al-Sheikh Eid added. “It has become evident to us that the level of destruction is enormous.”

Since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire went into effect late last week, almost 3,000 aid trucks have so far entered Gaza to help the city begin to rebuild, U.N. spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna told NBC News.

In Rafah’s Al-Shawka area, NBC News video footage captured hundreds of trucks carrying food and fuel entering through the Kerem Shalom crossing Wednesday. 

Armed guards and masked men — some of them Hamas militants and others ordinary Palestinian merchants to protect trucks — supervised their safe passage to ensure their distribution.

Local health officials say more than 47,000 people have been killed in Israeli bombing during the conflict, which began Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on Israel in which Israeli officials say 1,200 people were killed and saw 251 people taken hostage.

With ceasefire deal now agreed and Israeli hostages and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons beginning to return to their homes, Israeli officials have agreed to allow at least 600 truckloads of aid to enter Gaza daily during the initial six weeks.

That aid is much needed: The U.N. has previously estimated that around 60% of Gaza’s infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, has been destroyed. That has left around 90% of Gaza’s population — almost 1.9 million people — displaced from their homes.

In Rafah, Al-Sheikh Eid said that preliminary estimates indicated around 70% of the buildings had been partially or completely destroyed, adding that all communication networks, water systems, sewage systems and electricity infrastructure had also been demolished.