With Hamas increasing pressure on Israel by accepting an under-negotiation deal, a stable ceasefire could be reached soon in Gaza. However, for 21 lakh Palestinians, the 7-month-long war has changed their home territory like never before.
Incessant Israeli bombardment has damaged or destroyed about 60 per cent of buildings in the Gaza Strip, as per satellite analyses.
Gaza has changed
At least 370,000 housing units in Gaza have been damaged, including 79,000 destroyed completely, according to a recently published report by the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
Rebuilding all fully destroyed housing units in Gaza could take approximately 80 years if the reconstruction pace follows previous Gaza conflicts, as per a UNDP assessment.
Even in a best-case scenario in which construction materials are delivered five times as fast as in the last Gaza crisis in 2021, reconstruction of Gaza would take another 16 years, or until 2040.
The war has caused an estimated damage of $18.5 billion to Gaza’s public infrastructure or equivalent to 97 per cent of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022, says a new report by the World Bank Group and the United Nations.
Housing alone accounts for 73 per cent of the identified cost. Public service infrastructure such as water, health, and education account for 18 per cent, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9 per cent, the report said.
Truce talks raise hope
On Monday, celebrations erupted in many parts of war-ravaged Gaza as the territory’s rulers, the Hamas militant outfit, announced that they had accepted a ceasefire deal that has been in the works for quite some time.
Although the details of the deal or the terms Hamas has accepted are not in public, Israel says it does not meet its key goals of the Gaza invasion that followed a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Nonetheless, it has raised hopes worldwide about a potential permanent ceasefire and could save lakhs of Palestinians from an ongoing famine.
A Hamas official told Al Jazeera that the agreement would include three phases, starting with a halt in the fighting that would allow people in Gaza to move freely within the Strip. It would end with the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and the reconstruction of the territory.
Hamas has sought clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, reported AP.
The Egypt-Qatar brokered talks continued on Tuesday even as Israel maintained that the proposal as it currently stands was unacceptable to it. Israel has announced to send a team to Cairo to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire offer.
“This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation,” an Israeli official told Reuters.
Israel cuts Gaza off outside world
Hours after the Hamas announcement, Israeli defence forces took control of the Rafah border crossing, the sole transit point that Israel did not control. During the war, the border point has served as the main gateway for humanitarian aid entering Gaza through Egypt.
In a statement, the IDF said it took operational control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing after receiving intelligence about the presence of Hamas members there.
Israel has been planning a ground offensive in Gaza for months despite US opposition. Its military has stepped up its bombardment of the city and ordered about 1 lakh of 15 lakh Palestinians sheltering in Rafah to evacuate.
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Program chief says northern Gaza has entered “full-blown famine”.
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