United Nations Middle East peace envoy James Rawley said on Wednesday that the organisation had brokered a deal on reconstruction of Palestine’s war-battered Gaza Strip.

He said that he expected the amount of building materials entering the encircled territory to quadruple in the coming months.

Under a mechanism agreed by Palestine, Israel and the UN, up to 800 lorryloads of construction materials will enter Gaza per day — a huge jump from the 200 or so that Israel and Egypt allow through the borders at present.

“This facilitates recovery and reconstruction in Gaza and we’re hoping that this step in the right direction will set the stage for an even more meaningful opening of the crossings,” said Mr Rawley.

The details of the deal are a crucial part of Gaza’s rebuilding after a 50-day blitz by Israel that pulverised the territory, flattening entire neighbourhoods and reducing houses to rubble.

Palestinian officials estimate that the rebuilding could cost $6 billion (£3.7bn).

The UN said that some 18,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged during the Israeli onslaught.

Israel claims that Hamas has in the past diverted cement and steel imported for schools and homes for military purposes.

Mr Rawley said the UN would monitor the goods from point of purchase to delivery in Gaza, thus addressing Israeli security concerns.

Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa welcomed news of the deal, but said that a greater easing on the movement of other goods and of people was also needed.