The war-torn Gaza strip has been assessed and estimates say the damage from seven weeks of attacks will take 20 years and about $6 billion to rebuild, Al-Jazeera reports.

As Gaza looks to mend its shambles, the end to a seven-year blockade is also in the works -- a key point to a truce from the Palestinians, reports Vice News.

On Tuesday, Aug. 26, Palestinian officials announced entering an open-ended permanent cease-fire deal, after the most recent conflict with Israel that has left 2,100 Palestinians and 72 Israelis dead. Of those numbers, Palestine has had the most civilian deaths, and Israel has reported six civilian deaths.

The United Nations and Red Cross partnered with Shelter Cluster, an international organization tasked with assessing post-conflict reconstruction, to determine the damage to Gaza, Al-Jazeera reports.

But the estimates given by Shelter Cluster are based on the current level of goods moving into the area -- about 100 trucks of construction cargo daily.

If the 2007 blockade is lifted, the amount of construction materials available to the city would increase and allow for a quicker reconstruction time.

Shelter Cluster said that in total17,000 housing units in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged and 5,000 units still need work after damage sustained in the previous military campaigns, according to Al-Jazeera. In addition, Gaza has about 75,000 units less than are needed to adequately house the 1.8 million population.

The truce Tuesday yielded few results -- while Gaza saw a loosening of blockade restrictions, Hamas refused to disarm. In addition, Israel's concerns about the use of construction materials spurred Britain, Germany and France to consider a security mechanism to ensure the materials aren't diverted to make weaponry or for other uses.

The latest 50-day battle was sparked by the killing of three Israeli teens in June in the occupied West Bank, which Israel blamed on Hamas. It was later revealed that the murderers acted of their own accord and not on Hamas directives, Al-Jazeera reports.