Extract from ABC News
Dunua Al-Ghazaleh lost her family in an air strike days after the war began. (ABC News)
Dunya Al-Ghazaleh stands in front of her childhood home in northern Gaza almost three years after it was destroyed.
On the night of October 13, 2023, an Israeli air strike hit the building where her family was sleeping.
Dunya was not home at the time, but when she heard the news, she called her mother repeatedly and could not get through.
"When I came, the destruction was massive. It was the beginning of the war. I saw the building flat on the ground," she says, recalling the horror of that day.
Her parents were pulled from the rubble, but six family members were left behind, including her beloved brother. A bulldozer and an excavator came, she says, but left when the excavator broke down.
"This was my dream. It became a cemetery," she says through her sobs.
"It became like this … destruction, destruction."
Streets lie in rubble across Gaza. (ABC News)
Three years after the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, much of Gaza lies in ruins.
Last month, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the Board of Peace proposed a $US2.45 billion ($3.53 billion) first phase of reconstruction. Estimates suggest the total recovery plan could cost $US71.4 billion over a decade.
The board and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say reconstruction depends on Hamas disarming. Hamas has agreed to a disarmament framework, but has tied it to an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which has not happened.
As Gaza's future is drawn up on paper, the reality on the ground feels far away.
Sifting through rubble
In the Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza's Civil Defence is attempting work it has been unable to do for years.
On one October morning, teams recovered nine bodies from a building that was struck two years ago, using a single excavator. Nine others still remain.
Rescue teams say a shortage of heavy machinery has slowed clearing efforts. (ABC News)
Dozens of workers sift through twisted iron rods and rubble, some with their bare hands, as human remains emerge. Workers hold up items splattered with blood, others handle skulls and put bones into body bags.
"If there were loaders and heavy machinery during the strikes, we might have been able to rescue many people," says Hassan Jaber of the Gazan Civil Defence.
"We talk to people who are under the rubble, but we cannot reach them."
On October 1, Palestinians held a mass funeral for 105 victims killed in a series of Israeli air strikes in Gaza City's al-Taj, which occurred three years prior. The bodies were recovered a few days before the funeral.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the search and recovery of the dead requires specialised equipment not readily available in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, 2025, at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed, local health authorities say, as Israeli strikes continue almost on a daily basis.
In August, UN agencies estimated destruction in Gaza had climbed by nearly 10 per cent since the ceasefire was brokered between Hamas and Israeli forces.
Israel does not allow international media into Gaza to independently gather and verify information. The Israeli government has argued that for the safety of journalists, it is "keeping them out".
A civil defence worker searches the rubble of a collapsed building. (ABC News)
Wounded while working in the early days of the war, Hassan says the work remains dangerous because of the continued strikes.
Hassan says a lack of heavy machinery is also making the work almost impossible.
"This excavator needs ongoing maintenance. In one hour, it might be out of order," he says.
The scale of destruction in Gaza
Satellite images show the scale of the destruction, with homes, schools, businesses and places of worship disappearing from view.
The UN estimates about 82 per cent of structures in Gaza have been damaged. Nearly two-thirds of the population now lives in tents or makeshift shelters.
The United Nations Development Programme's special representative, Jaco Cilliers, says about 1 million tonnes of rubble have been cleared and 300,000 kilograms recycled, used to pave roads and raise tents. But there are only five crushing machines, he says, rehabilitated from dump sites after decades of use.
"They are breaking every day. They've already been used [a] hundred times more than they should have been," he says.
Much of the effort is hampered by rules governing what can enter Gaza.
Israel restricts items it classifies as "dual-use": civilian goods it says could be used for military purposes by Hamas and other armed groups.
Aid workers call the label "convenient" and say it is applied inconsistently, noting the same engine oil can be approved for water pump generators and barred for hospitals.
In November 2025, the UN counted 107 rejected requests for relief materials in a single month. Israel said the items were outside the humanitarian scope or were dual-use.
Israeli human rights group Gisha and others have long criticised the definition as too broad.
Israel insists aid materials are entering the strip.
Board of Peace delayed
Phase one of the recovery plan by the Board of Peace, a group of nations assembled by the US to plan Gaza's future, covers 66 projects in six clusters.
That includes infrastructure, human development, economic acceleration, and peace and security.
The board says the plan is "not a wish list", and each project has been assessed, costed and sequenced.
In a presentation in New York, the board said reconstruction would commence in 2027 "as the demilitarisation progresses".
But disarmament remains the key sticking point, alongside governance and security.
Even Jared Kushner, an executive board member and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, acknowledged "different delays on different things". He said the body is "sharpening the axe, getting ready for when we get the time to cut the tree".
"It's very little to show for its efforts … it's a pattern of corporate presentations," says Amjad Iraqi of the International Crisis Group.
Aid workers welcome the planning but say things must change on the ground.
"We see very little progress in terms of systems and institutions and structures being put in place, and I think that is really important for the longer-term recovery efforts in Gaza," Mr Cilliers says.
The cost of waiting
Meanwhile, Palestinians are living in dire conditions, with limited water, sanitation and space.
In May, Netanyahu directed the IDF to increase control to 70 per cent, leaving Gaza's 2.1 million residents confined to one-third of the enclave.
Aid workers say it is difficult to access relief materials inside Gaza. (ABC News)
Some Gazans have chosen to return to their destroyed homes to build shelters between damaged structures.
However, last month, that proved deadly when a Gaza City building, which had been left tilting after a strike, collapsed, killing at least 21 people, including eight children.
The UN estimated 100 people, including 50 children, had been living inside.
Municipal officials have warned that incoming winter weather and rainstorms will weaken the already fragile structures.
Like many families in Gaza, Dunya cannot move on until her loved ones are recovered.
Until then, the rubble of her family home is her substitute for a gravestone.
"My goal and all my focus these days is on paying respect to my brother and [getting] him out of this place."
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