GENEVA - The international community must ensure that any efforts to reconstruct Gaza are guided by international law and human rights norms and standards, rather than by neo-colonial interests that rest on impunity and avarice, UN experts* said today.
"The right of Palestinians to self-determination is inalienable, it is not a conditional privilege," the experts said. "Decision-making concerning Gaza's reconstruction and future should be in the hands of Palestinians, who should be able to remain and return voluntarily and in safety to their land and properties. Their right to self-determination also extends to decisions concerning the reconstruction of Gaza and the type of development they wish to pursue. Such decisions should not be imposed by foreign powers."
"Leaders must stop speculating about Gaza as a real estate paradise and see it for what it is - the war-ravaged homeland of its residents who have the right to rebuild their lives after the enormous suffering and deprivations they have endured," they said.
According to estimates, between October 2023 and October 2025, at least 92 per cent of Gaza's housing units were either fully destroyed or damaged.
A new analysis by the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing concludes that the means and ways in which Israel is committing systematic and widespread destruction of housing in Gaza, widely referred to as 'domicide', amounts to war crimes and has reached the threshold for crimes against humanity and genocide.
The new analysis coincides with the launch of a set of draft Guiding Principles on Reconstruction and a related Legal commentary, which stress that persons and peoples affected by conflict are entitled to a right to reconstruction and reparation to fully restore their economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.
"Member states have a responsibility to ensure that Gaza's residents have the means and opportunity to lead and benefit from its reconstruction," the experts said. This includes ensuring the availability of funds and unimpeded entry of machinery and materials for reconstruction of housing, civilian infrastructure, public, educational and health care facilities, destroyed places of worship and objects of cultural significance.
"As the aggressor and occupying power, this responsibility begins first and foremost with Israel - and the states that provided it with military and other support for its campaign in Gaza," the experts said. "The ceasefire must hold, the occupation must end, and there should be guarantees for non-repetition as prerequisites for any sustainable and rights-based reconstruction process."
"The creation of the Board of Peace is an illegal and illegitimate maneuver by powerful States driven by nostalgia and avarice," they said.
The experts warned that the establishment and endorsement of the Board of Peace by the UN Security Council Resolution 2803 is fundamentally contrary to basic principles of international law, including the right to self-determination.
"The creation of the Board of Peace also contravenes the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of July 2024, demanding the immediate end to Israel's occupation, as also reiterated by the General Assembly in Resolution ES-10/24," they said.
According to the experts, the approach of the Board of Peace is the antithesis of a human rights-based approach to reconstruction and a throwback to the bygone days of colonialism.
"Member states must ensure that they do not support decisions and actions contrary to international law and that 'redevelopment' of Gaza does not further violate the human rights of its population."
