Gaza, Sep 21 (IANS): A senior Palestinian government official said that the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip has kicked off and it needs $3 billion to be completed.

"We need $1 billion to rebuild the damage left during the latest wave of tension in May and the previous Israeli wars waged on the Gaza Strip," Xinhua news agency quoted Naji Sarhan, undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, as saying.

"We need another $2 billion to revive Gaza and bring it back to life," he added.

Several countries have provided grants to start the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip, including Qatar and Egypt.

The two countries announced that they contributed $500 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, Sarhan added that Qatar and Egypt presented a vision related to distributing their grants to various sectors in Gaza, including housing, infrastructure, health, education, economy, and agriculture.

On May 10, Israel waged an intensive military offensive on the Gaza Strip that went on for 11 days.

The offensive, that killed 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, ended after Egypt brokered a truce between the Jewish state and the Hamas.

Sarhan said that during the last wave of tension between Israel and Hamas, around 1,500 housing units were completely destroyed.

He added that 880 housing units were severely damaged and 56,000 housing units were slightly damaged.