Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs and International Security Amr Aljowaily announced this Thursday during the "Spotlight on Crises: Gaza" session, held on the sidelines of the 12th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF12), which is currently taking place in Cairo.

Aljowaily said the conference will be ministerial, underscoring Egypt's commitment to addressing Arab issues, particularly the Palestinian cause.

During the session, the Egyptian diplomat described the Gaza crisis as a critical topic when discussing the challenges besting the Middle East.

The only resolution for the Palestinian cause is to allow the Palestinian people to gain their full rights, he asserted.

He also called for implementing the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) advisory opinion, which urged an end to Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territories, a stance supported by a UN General Assembly resolution.

Moreover, Aljowaily underlined Israel's grave violations of international law in Gaza, which he said have resulted in unprecedented destruction of the strip’s infrastructure and superstructure.

Nearly two-thirds of the buildings there were completely destroyed. This includes educational, health, and government facilities, residential units, places of worship, and archaeological sites.

He noted that such a level of destruction has hindered the rollout of essential services.

Aljowaily also reiterated Egypt’s readiness to assist in the strip's reconstruction, drawing on its extensive experience in urban development and previous participation in reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Libya.

Egypt's position regarding the Israeli aggression in Gaza manifests in three key tracks, he said.

The first is security: Egypt strives to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The second is humanitarian: Egypt exerts huge efforts to provide aid to the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.

The third is political: Egypt works in line with the UN General Assembly and other legal mechanisms of UN organizations, including the ICJ, to establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Gaza in rubble 
 

Israel's yearlong war on Gaza has killed and wounded over 140,000 Palestinians and caused massive destruction in homes and civilian infrastructure that could take decades to rebuild.

The UN estimated that the war has left over 42 million tons of debris in Gaza — 14 times the amount of rubble accumulated in Gaza between 2008 and the war's start a year ago and over five times the amount left by the 2016-2017 Battle of Mosul in Iraq.

If piled up, it would fill the Great Pyramid of Giza — Egypt's largest — 11 times, according to estimates by Reuters, and it is growing daily.

Moreover, AP said debris and rubble laced with human remains in Gaza are enough to fill New York’s Central Park to a depth of eight metres (about 25 feet).

The UN also said it could take up to 15 years and nearly $650 million to remove all the debris.

A September assessment based on satellite footage carried out by the UN Institute for Training and Research revealed that the Israeli war left two-thirds of the buildings in the Gaza Strip damaged or destroyed.

Meanwhile, approximately 68 percent of the permanent crop fields in the strip showed "a significant decline in health and density," according to UNOSAT and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The UN further estimated that nearly 70 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants had been destroyed or damaged.

This includes all five of the territory’s wastewater treatment facilities, plus desalination plants, sewage pumping stations, wells, and reservoirs.