The World Health Organization representative in Palestine, Rick Peeperkorn, announced today, Thursday, that rebuilding the health system in the Gaza Strip requires at least $10 billion over the coming years.

He said at a press conference that an initial assessment showed that it would require "more than three billion dollars in the first year and a half, and ten billion dollars in five to seven years."

"I was not surprised" by that, he added, because "the needs are huge."

"We all know that the destruction in Gaza is enormous, and I have never seen anything like it anywhere else in my life," he continued, noting that reconstruction is "a collective responsibility of the member states" of the World Health Organization, "including Israel" and "partners."

For his part, the Director-General of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said during the same press conference that "less than half of Gaza's hospitals are operating."

He said that the agreement announced on Wednesday to cease fire in the Gaza Strip "is almost the best news we could have hoped for at the beginning of the new year."