Clearing Gaza rubble could yield 90,000 tonnes of planet-heating emissions

Processing debris from Israel's destruction of homes, schools and hospitals could take four decades

Millions of tonnes of rubble left by Israel's bombardment of Gaza could generate more than 90,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - and take as long as four decades to remove and process, a study has found.

Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes, schools and hospitals in Gaza generated at least 39m tonnes of concrete debris between October 2023 and December 2024, which will require at least 2.1m dump trucks driving 18m miles (29.5m km) to transport to disposal sites, researchers said.