Palestinian girls walk past the rubble of a building which was destroyed during the Israeli army's military offensive, in Khan Yunis' Khuzaa neighbourhood in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.

AFP/Gaza

The Palestinian government on Thursday called for $4bn to rebuild Gaza, part of a reconstruction plan for the war-battered territory ahead of an October 12 donor conference.

Gaza's infrastructure was devastated during a 50-day Israeli military operation which killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, while attacks by Gaza militants killed 73 on the Israeli side.

A 76-page report, released ahead of the donor conference in Cairo, said $4bn (3.2bn euros) would be needed for the "direct costs" of rebuilding the besieged coastal territory.

It would include $1.9bn for public and private infrastructure repairs, and $1.2bn for "reactivating economic productivity", according to The National Early Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for Gaza.

The government's priority would be "removal of rubble and removal of ERWs", or unexploded shells and missiles from the war, which it estimated to number 5,000 inside Gaza.

It would then repair Gaza's power station, which was struck during the conflict, and work on access to drinking water, healthcare and education.

The "largest expenditure" would be on housing, it said.

More than 100,000 Gazans are homeless after the conflict, which ended on August 26.

The report also urged Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, which has been in place since 2006.

"Free movement of people and goods will catalyse Gaza, catapulting it from its current crisis into socio-economic sustainability. Freedom of access must be guaranteed. The borders must be opened. Trade must flow. People must travel," it said.

The International Monetary Fund has called for curbs on the movement of goods and people to be relaxed to enable Gaza's economic recovery, and the World Bank has warned of a resumption of violence should the economy fail to improve.

The report also called for an additional $4.5bn in budget support to the Palestinian government to maintain reconstruction and support government institutions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and the Islamist movement Hamas agreed last month on the return of a unity government to Gaza.

Hamas relinquished control of the Strip under an April unity deal, but it remained in de facto control until after the war.

Israel boosts security for rare clash of holy days

Israel is tightening security in flashpoint mixed Jewish-Muslim areas to ward off possible unrest this weekend when two important religious festivals coincide for the first time in three decades.

The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur begins on Friday evening, followed on Saturday by Muslim Eid al-Adha, against a backdrop of high inter-religious tension over the seven-week Gaza war.

Israeli security forces have said they will deploy additional personnel in east Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Hebron.

The authorities have also come to agreement with the Jewish and Muslim communities in mixed Israeli cities on the timing of celebrations.

The clash of festivals has not occurred for 33 years because the two faiths use different lunar calendars.

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