Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the international community to begin rebuilding the Gaza Strip immediately, urging world leaders to increase pressure on Israel.
“We must immediately begin the reconstruction of Gaza,” Erdoğan said in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
He also called on world leaders to “put greater pressure on Israel” over the situation in the Palestinian territory.
Gaza has suffered extensive destruction since Hamas militants launched their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, triggering a large-scale Israeli military response.
According to UN figures cited in the report, by October 2025, around 84 percent of structures across Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.
Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached in October 2025, Israel has continued carrying out airstrikes and has restricted the entry of equipment that international humanitarian organizations say is necessary for reconstruction.
As a result, large-scale reconstruction of the territory has yet to begin.
A joint assessment published in April by the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union estimated that Gaza would require approximately $71.4 billion in recovery and reconstruction spending over the following decade.
Erdoğan’s call comes as international efforts focus increasingly on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the enormous financial and logistical challenges involved in rebuilding the territory.
