Extent of Gaza’s Devastation and Israel’s Siege

First, there’s this from the NY Times, “Gaza Cost Far Exceeds Estimate, Official Says“:

Hundreds of thousands more Gazans have been displaced than the United Nations thought was possible in an emergency, a Unicef official said.
. . .  with 350,000 people so far displaced from a six-week-old conflict — seven times the 50,000 foreseen in its contingency plan, the top Unicef official for the crowded Palestinian enclave said Wednesday.
The official, Pernille Ironside, also said that if the severe Israeli trade constraints on Gaza were not relaxed, a preliminary analysis showed it could take 18 years to rebuild destroyed housing, furthering the prospect that young Gazans would reach adulthood in deprivation, anger and despair.  . . .

Ms. Hary was among the impressive young Israelis we have met on our annual Israel Symposiums who work for human rights NGOs there. This is her response to our request for information:

Gisha has been offering responses to some of the questions you ask via our blog. You can find posts on these topics here:

http://gisha.org/en-blog/2014/08/14/why-israel-should-allow-construction-materials-to-enter-gaza/

http://gisha.org/en-blog/2014/07/28/the-closure-didnt-stop-the-gaza-tunnels/

http://gisha.org/en-blog/2014/07/21/gazas-future-15-facts-that-cant-be-ignored/

http://gisha.org/en-blog/2014/07/11/what-you-need-to-know-about-gaza/