Hold dear Gaza, at least now on
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With the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza having come into effect last Sunday, a temporary truce has come about for the Gaza war after making West Asia a cauldron of war for 16 months alongside being a global question mark. Passing the next phase could set off reconstruction of Gaza. Let’s set aside for now the unpredictable fallout in the event of Israel derailing the peace accord. Even as President Trump, soon after taking office stressed the need for reconstruction of Gaza, he also expressed doubt if the ceasefire would take hold. However, the international community can no longer look on idly just as three million refugees live in extremely difficult conditions. When will reconstruction process start? What will be Israel’s role in it? What will be the governance of Gaza like from now on? What will be the fate of the already stagnant Palestinian Authority? Among questions including what role the Gaza-controlling Hamas will play in the new situation, the first priority is to rebuild the Gaza Strip into a habitable zone. Prior to it all, the debris in the territory has to be removed.
Horrendous amount of human and structural destruction have taken place in Gaza. The amount of debris from Israeli bombings alone is estimated at 42 million tons. It will take more than 10 years and $1.2 billion to remove it according to UN estimates. About 70 percent of the buildings in Gaza are in ruins. Ninety percent of the houses are razed down. The work to retrieving about 10 thousand bodies trapped under the debris is still remaining. Sixty eight percent of the roads are broken. The UN estimates that the entire reconstruction effort will cost $50 billion. The World Health Organization estimates that it will take six years and $10 billion to achieve the immediate goal of restoring health systems. In addition, 136 schools and universities, 200 government institutions, and about 800 mosques need to be rebuilt. Apart from finding the funds, the question under what mechanism it would be controlled and managed also needs to be solved.
Of Gaza’s 2.3 million population 1.9 million have turned out as refugees. The place is experiencing severe shortage of basic amenities. For example, last month, the UN humanitarian agency said water distribution was less than a quarter of what it was before October 7, 2023. Meanwhile, a bizarre idea of relocating Palestinian refugees to Indonesia until the reconstruction is completed has been floated recently. Rather than coming from official sources, it was NBC channel that quoted this idea. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry was quick to respond that it had no knowledge of the matter. It is unclear who came up with the idea of temporarily shifting Palestinians to a non-Arab state some 11-hour flight away. The world knows only too well why Palestinians, nonetheless suffering, refuse to submit to Israel or seek refuge in another country. There are immense hurdles before the Hamas that rules/should rule the Gaza Strip to return to normalcy. Since October 7, 2023 Israel's plan has been to destroy Hamas. Even Elon Musk, the 'advisor' who is likely to wield critical influence in the US administration, is talking about rebuilding Gaza after destroying Hamas. But, would the local population of Gaza be prepared for a Hamas-free Gaza or Palestine? What Gaza needs now is humanitarian assistance including food, shelter, education and health facilities, and infrastructure such as roads. The construction of these must proceed quickly along with receiving massive funds required for all this. The so-called international community, or the nations of the world, has not yet stepped forward to stop Israel from the war. Just as the war has temporarily ended, the world’s conscience is waiting to see if they will compassionately hold dear the victims at least from now on.
