Gaza Is Rebuilding With Lego-Like Bricks Made From Rubble

a temporary inside A workshop rebuilt after being damaged by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza Suleiman Abu Hasnain stands among piles of broken concrete, trying to give them a new look. His voice on the phone sounds tired, burdened by what he’s trying to do: rebuild in a place where building materials are no longer available.

Gaza’s construction crisis did not begin with the latest war. For years, the Israeli blockade restricted the entry of cement, steel and other construction materials, slowing reconstruction efforts throughout the region. But after nearly two years of intense bombing, the scale of the destruction has pushed the system far beyond collapse.

According to UN estimates, there are now more than 60 million tonnes of debris in Gaza, while hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in tents with little protection from the heat or winter cold and no clear prospects for reconstruction.

In that environment, debris is no longer just debris. It is becoming one of the only manufacturing resources left.

One local response is Green Rock, a project led by Abu Hasnain that aims to recycle the remains of destroyed buildings into usable Lego-like bricks. Similar interlocking brick systems have been used elsewhere, including parts of Europe and post-conflict settings such as Sudan and Iraq. But in Gaza, the project emerges under very different circumstances: not as an architectural experiment, but as a response to the near disappearance of traditional reconstruction materials.

Abu Hasnain says that the idea was born out of necessity rather than innovation. “We were faced with a simple equation: destruction without solutions,” he says. “So we tried to turn it into a resource.”

The process involves crushing and sorting the debris, then mixing it with local soil and alternative binding materials developed inside Gaza before compressing it into blocks using a hand-built machine. The resulting interlocking bricks can be joined without traditional mortar, reducing reliance on cement, which remains scarce.

Lego-like interlocking bricks made from recycled debris inside the Green Rock workshop in Gaza.
Photograph: Hassan Herzallah

Under normal circumstances, this type of brick will require some cement, about 7 to 12 percent. But because access to it is so restricted, the team says it has developed a version using locally available replacement materials instead. Engineer Wajdi Jouda helped define the shape and composition of the brick to meet engineering standards and connected the team with technical expertise from outside Gaza.