Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave the miserable tent camps and return home if a long-awaited ceasefire agreement stop it Israel-Hamas Warbut many will find that there is nothing left and there is no way to rebuild.
Israeli bombings and ground operations have transformed entire neighborhoods of several cities into wastelands littered with rubblewith blackened building shells and mounds of debris extending in all directions. The main roads have been cleared of snow. Essential water and electricity infrastructure is in ruins. Most hospitals are no longer functioning.
And it’s unclear when – or even if – much of it will be rebuilt.
THE agreement for a gradual ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas-led militants does not say who will govern Gaza after the war, or whether Israel and Egypt will lift the blockade limiting the movement of people and goods that they imposed when Hamas took power in 2007.
The United Nations says that reconstruction could take more than 350 years if the blockade persists.
The extent of the damage will only be known when the fighting has ended and inspectors have full access to the territory. The most destroyed part of Gaza, in the north, was sealed off and largely depopulated by Israeli forces as part of an operation which began in early October.
Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated last month that 69 percent of Gaza’s structures were damaged or destroyed, including more than 245,000 homes. The World Bank estimated $18.5 billion in damage – almost the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022 – in just the first four months of the war.
Israel blames the destruction on Hamas, which started the war with its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 250 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them. women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which did not specify how many of the dead were fighters.
Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The military released photos and video footage showing Hamas building tunnels and rocket launchers in residential areas and often operating in and around homes, schools and mosques.
Before anything can be rebuilt, the rubble must be removed – a colossal task in itself.
The UN estimates that the war has left Gaza littered with more than 50 million tonnes of rubble, about 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. With more than 100 trucks working full time, it would take more than 15 years to clear the rubble, and there is little open space in the narrow coastal territory that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
Removing the debris will also be complicated by the fact that it contains huge quantities of unexploded ordnance and other hazardous materials, as well as human remains. Gaza’s health ministry says thousands of people killed in airstrikes are still buried under rubble.
Clearing the rubble and eventually rebuilding homes will require billions of dollars and the ability to bring construction materials and heavy equipment into the territory – neither of which is assured.
The ceasefire agreement calls for a three- to five-year reconstruction project to begin in its final phase, once the remaining 100 hostages have been freed and Israeli troops have withdrawn from the territory.
But to get there, it will be necessary to reach an agreement on the second, most difficult phase of the agreement, which still needs to be negotiated.
Even then, the ability to rebuild will depend on the blockade, which critics have long denounced as a form of collective punishment. Israel says this is necessary to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities, pointing out that cement and metal pipes can also be used for tunnels and rockets.
Israel might be more inclined to lift the blockade if Hamas were no longer in power, but there are no plans for an alternative government.
The United States and much of the international community want a revitalized Palestinian Authority govern the West Bank and Gaza with the support of Arab countries with a view to a possible state. But it is a failure for the Israeli government, which is opposed to a Palestinian state and has ruled out any role in Gaza for the Western-backed authority.
International donors are unlikely to invest in an ungoverned territory that has seen five wars in less than two decades, meaning sprawling tent camps along the coast could become a permanent part of life in Gaza.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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