Mauring suggested a system in which the UNDP would deliver cement to families whose houses had been partially destroyed in the bombing. These families would then have an incentive to use the cement to rebuild their homes, he said, rather than handing the materials off to Hamas. Whether Israel would agree to such a policy, however, remains to be seen.

There are even more urgent problems, however, than the supply of cement. Gaza’s only power plant was hit during the war, leaving most residents with only two to four hours of electricity per day. Mauring estimated that before the war, Gaza received a total of about 300 megawatts of electricity from the plant and power lines from Egypt and Israel. Now, with the power plant offline and the electrical grid from Israel damaged, he said that Gaza is receiving about half of that.

The power plant isn’t only important for keeping the lights on. “The fact that the plant was hit means sewage pumps aren’t working, water pumps aren’t working,” said Nate McCray, a spokesman for Oxfam International. “So you see sewage and brackish water seeping up into the [refugee] shelters and contaminating the water systems.”