The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reported that the estimated total cost of the damages in the Gaza Strip assessed for the period between June 28 and August 27, 2006, since the start of Israeli 'Operation Summer Rains' in Gaza, is around $46 million.

In an executive summary of a report on the damages in Gaza, issued Wednesday, the UNDP reported that, in addition to the human toll of 220 Palestinians killed, including 54 children, the ongoing Israeli invasion has resulted in extensive damage to Palestinian infrastructure and economy in the Gaza strip.

UNDP reported that damages across sectors are as follows:

1. Municipal infrastructure (including bridges water and wastewater lines and roads) $8 million

2. Energy (including the electricity lines and power station) $8 million

3. Agriculture (including olives and citrus orchards, greenhouses, poultries and livestock farms, water wells) $ 23.5 million

4. Housing $2 million

5. Public buildings (both governmental and NGO) $4.2 million, and

6. Industry $0.3 million

The UNDP added that the damage estimates per Governorate are:

1. Gaza - $13.5 million

2. Middle - $12 million

3. Rafah - $9.6 million

4. North - $6.6 million

5. Khan Younis - US$ 4.2 millions

The report added that the UNDP's Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP) has begun an extensive damage assessment exercise covering the entire geographic area of the Gaza strip.

UNDP said that the methodology used for assessing the damage in all the sectors, except the agricultural sector, involved site and field visits to every damaged location, assessment of costs and documentation of physical damage.

The assessment of damage to the agricultural sector was done in collaboration with the Palestinian Authority and Agricultural NGO's, followed by independent site visits to validate the data received.

imemc *this article was sourced from the Palestinian News Agency, WAFA