'We Survived, but This Isn't Life': Gazans Feel Relief Mixed With Dread - Palestinians
"The noise of the shelling has been silenced and the skies are clear, but the pain of the war still hangs over the tents," Dr. Mohammed Hamed, a physician in the Gaza Strip, posted on X last week. "The battle in the bodies of the wounded, in the hearts of the mothers, isn't over yet – nor in the eyes of the children, whose light has been lost."
One Palestinian prisoner released from an Israeli jail, who returned to Gaza after nearly two years, said it looks like Armageddon. True, the devastation looks like a scene from after World War II.
In the south, Rafah is almost entirely obliterated, and Khan Yunis is badly damaged, while in large swaths of the north only the shells of buildings remain. The water and power grids aren't functioning properly, and the approaching winter threatens to drown the improvised refugee camps in mud.
People feel relief mixed with dread. "Life now is better than during the war, but everything could explode at any moment," one resident says. A new saying is going around, "We survived, but this isn't life."
Gazans hunger not just for the silence from the bombing but for a normal life – bread, water, security, a sense of a future. For them, the cease-fire seems more like a break in the fighting than its end. The war may be off the headlines, but it continues in a daily struggle for survival by 2 million people in a devastated enclave. They're waiting for a reconstruction that's still a long way off.
Aid depends on money
This month's cease-fire allows in 600 aid trucks daily, but sources in Gaza say the number is more like 300 to 400, sometimes fewer than 200. Most of the trucks carry basic commodities like flour, sugar and canned goods.
Tents and other materials for shelter are rarely seen as winter approaches; thousands of families have no roof over their heads. Sources say most goods are entering on the back of private business, not direct aid, so only people with money are benefiting.
And few people have any. Gaza's economy is in total collapse; nearly everyone is living below the poverty line. Unemployment is over 80 percent and salaries at public institutions aren't paid regularly. The shortage of cash persists across the enclave, because Israel didn't allow new bills in during the war.
According to the United Nations, Gaza's humanitarian aid mechanisms are only crawling along, partly because of the severe budget crisis. A senior UN official admitted that a negligible $20 million had been raised, half for food and half for fuel and logistics.
Still, after months of paralysis, the UNRWA refugee agency is gradually resuming operations, including the distribution of flour and basic goods. Its operations inspire hope among many Gazans, who say it's the only agency that has efficiently distributed aid.
On the streets, improvised markets are operating, and prices plummeted when the cease-fire was announced. Bread, a rare commodity during the war, is again available under agreements between the World Food Program and local bakeries, but vegetable prices are still high. A kilo of poor-quality tomatoes costs 50 shekels ($15), cucumbers 20 shekels and peppers 25 shekels.
'True, there's no more bombing and no more fear of being buried in the rubble, but now we're fighting to make ends meet, to educate the children, to live – simply to live,' says a mother of three.
There are hardly any dairy products, meat and fish. In the past few days, trucks carrying bananas and kiwis – especially rare delicacies – entered, and chicken was seen in the Deir al-Balah market in central Gaza. The price: 300 shekels per kilo.
"They formally announced a cease-fire and an end to the war, but we're in a new war," says a mother of three; the family lives in a tent in Deir al-Balah. "True, there's no more bombing and no more fear of being buried in the rubble, but now we're fighting to make ends meet, to educate the children, to live – simply to live. And we have nothing to do so."
Half of Gazans are displaced. Many aren't going back to their ruined homes, especially in areas across the "yellow line" where Israel still has forces, including in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and eastern Gaza City in the north, and in southern Rafah. In those places, the shooting sometimes resumes and there have been reports of casualties.
A full 53 percent of Gaza is still under direct or indirect Israeli control, and the lack of sovereignty hinders any attempt at civilian reconstruction. Gazans accuse Israel of delaying the entry of aid and using it to pressure the Strip to disarm.
The question of who will ultimately govern Gaza is still open, and Hamas is busy reconstituting its rule from areas that the Israeli army left, using the Interior Ministry and the operating of hospitals as tools, along with a new attempt to control the streets.
The Sahem Unit, an armed Interior Ministry unit made up of former security officers and volunteers, has been deployed in key neighborhoods to restore a sense of order, and to fight criminal gangs that multiplied during the war. Sources say the unit's personnel, with the support of Hamas' military wing, are arresting and punishing people suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Bitter criticism arose after the public executions of recent days; even Hamas' supporters had reservations. But some Gazans see these measures as necessary for achieving deterrence and security after two years of chaos. "People want to see order and justice, even if it's cruel. Otherwise, every clan will take the law into its own hands," a witness to an execution says.
He says that despite Israel's military withdrawal, "its people and interests are everywhere, and it isn't interested in stability and definitely doesn't want Hamas to return. As long as there's no proper agreed alternative government, it's obvious that all kinds of armed groups will emerge, from thieves and mercenaries to Hamas and other militias."
According to the UN Environmental Program, 78 percent of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza have been fully or partly destroyed, amounting to 61 million tons of rubble, or 167 kilograms (368 pounds) per square meter throughout the enclave.
In the shadow of the political ambiguity, hundreds of thousands of Gazans are waiting for the reconstruction work to begin. But this massive project, if and when it gets underway, will take decades and cost tens of billions of dollars.
The high obstacles are inherent in the attendant questions: Who will rule Gaza? Who will control the reconstruction? Will Israel allow the new Gaza government to operate freely and import engineering equipment and building materials?
Out from under the rubble
Anyone who takes up the challenge will first have to deal with the mounds of rubble. According to a recent UN Environmental Program report, 78 percent of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza have been fully or partly destroyed, amounting to 61 million tons of rubble, or 167 kilograms (368 pounds) per square meter throughout the enclave.
Even before the rubble is cleared, sappers will have to take care of the thousands of unexploded ordnance. Another problem is that much of the rubble is contaminated by asbestos, heavy metals, toxic chemicals and human remains. An unorganized effort will worsen Gaza's environmental and health crisis.
It's hard to estimate how long the clearance will take, because it depends on budgets, the amount of engineering equipment sent into Gaza and whether the people will be allowed to send the rubble to the east of the enclave, which the Israel army currently controls.
To understand the scale of the task, remember that when Hamas launched the war in 2023, not all the ruins from the campaign in 2014 had been cleared. The UN estimates that the clearance will be done in stages: preparing areas to accept the cleared rubble, sorting and recycling it, and putting up factories to use it to rebuild buildings and for new construction, at a cost of $1 billion.
Interim living solutions will be needed for years, as well as the rebuilding of the power, water, sewage, health and education systems. The report by the UN Environment Program states that most schools and all the universities and hospitals were damaged in the war; many will need thorough renovations, but in most cases it will be a complete rebuild.
Based on their experience during the war, Israel's Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Palestinian nongovernmental organization Damour for Common Development have proposed a plan to build displaced persons camps. The idea is that it's impossible to wait for reconstruction, so off-grid camps must go up and meet their own needs.
These camps will be equipped with solar panels, water desalination systems and septic tanks, as well as central kitchens. There will also be public spaces for learning centers, clinics and other services.
The document proposes three construction stages for the camps; first is the emergency stage, which will include finding a site and building shelters for the displaced people. The second stage will cater to basic needs like power and water at international humanitarian standards. The third stage will see the creation of social, health and educational services. Each camp will cost an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 per person to build.
"The important thing to understand is that the cease-fire and the end of the war don't mean that people can return to their homes," says the head of the Arava Institute's Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy, David Lehrer. "Years will be needed for planning and reconstruction; the question is how people will live during this period. It's obvious to us that we can't solve the entire problem, but we can propose a model."
Still, any plan first depends on restoring social order and for the Gazans to be allowed to manage their own lives, Lehrer says.
Psychological recovery
It's not yet clear how much the reconstruction will cost. In February, the World Bank, UN and European Union estimated $53 billion.
In March, Egypt released its own plan, including seven temporary housing sites with 200,000 housing units for more than 1.5 million people. It also estimated that the cost would top $50 billion.
But both plans were published before the January cease-fire shattered in March. Reconstruction costs will now probably be much greater.
The devastation in Gaza is vast, but not uniform. For example, Rafah, the Jabalya refugee camp in the north, and eastern Gaza are almost obliterated. A UN employee who recently visited Rafah says the destruction is so complete that it was hard to figure out where buildings and streets once were. The central refugee camps, Deir al-Balah and western Gaza City are in ruins, though not totally ruined.
The war almost completely destroyed greenhouses, farmland and Gaza's fishing fleet. Local food production is almost zero and Gaza will be importing virtually all of its food for the foreseeable future. The international community hasn't yet launched a serious debate on reviving agriculture and the economy in general.
A deep social rehabilitation will also be needed. At least 70,000 people were killed in the war. If the missing and the bodies buried in the rubble are counted, as well as indirect deaths from disease and hunger, the number is far greater.
And there are currently 170,000 wounded in Gaza, including thousands of amputees and the permanently disabled, and 56,000 children who lost at least one parent in the war. UNICEF estimates that 40 percent of Gazan families are raising children who are not their own.
Almost all Gazans suffered multiple traumatic events in the past two years, or lost relatives or close friends. The levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and other psychological damage are extreme and will require enormous effort. The war also destroyed the social order, as the sense of personal security withered and crime increased, including sexual assaults.
As a UN under-secretary-general has put it, Gaza civilians must be protected, especially women and girls. Unexploded ordnance must be identified as people return to their homes. Child protection must be strengthened, as well as support for victims of sexual violence.