Reconstruction of Gaza will take “a long time”, says UN official

The process of rebuilding the devastated Palestinian territory will “take a very long time” despite a promised surge in humanitarian supplies, the UN representative in Gaza has warned.

“We are not only talking about food, healthcare, buildings, roads, infrastructure. We have individuals, families, communities that need to be rebuilt,” said Sam Rose, Acting Director of the UN Palestine Refugee Agency (Unrwa). Gaza, the BBC reported.

After a ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Sunday, At least 1,545 trucks of humanitarian aid have crossed into Gaza, the UN said.

The trucks brought desperately needed food, tents, blankets, mattresses and winter clothing to those stuck outside Gaza for months.

The ceasefire agreement reportedly calls for 600 aid trucks, including 50 with fuel, to be allowed into Gaza each day during the first six-week phase, in which Hamas must release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

“We’re expecting a big surge in the amount of aid coming in, and of course it’s much easier for us to go and collect that aid because a lot of the problems we’ve faced so far in the war disappear when the fighting stops,” he said. Mr. Rose.

“We are no longer moving through an active conflict zone. We no longer need to coordinate all these movements with the Israeli authorities,” he added. “And today, we have not faced serious problems with looting and crime.”

But he also stressed that “we must stop thinking about the needs of the people in Gaza in terms of the amount of aid.”

“Every person in Gaza is traumatized by what is happening. Everyone has lost something. Most of these houses are now destroyed, most of the roads are now destroyed,” he added. “It’s going to be a long, long process of rehabilitation and recovery.”

The World Health Organization’s regional director, Hanan Balhi, meanwhile, said he has a 60-day plan to rebuild Gaza’s health system to meet the immediate needs of the population and provide priority care to thousands of people with life-changing injuries.

The plan includes repairing Gaza’s hospitals – half of which are out of business and others only partially functional – setting up temporary clinics in the worst-hit areas, addressing malnutrition and combating disease outbreaks.

On Sunday night, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned that the humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza were “staggering”.

UN officials have previously blamed the humanitarian crisis on Israeli military aid restrictions, hostilities and law and order violations.

Israel insists there is no limit on the amount of aid that can be delivered to and through Gaza and blames UN agencies for not distributing the supplies. He also accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel says 91 hostages remain in captivity.

More than 47,000 people have been killed and 111,000 wounded in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have also been repeatedly displaced, an estimated 60% of buildings are damaged or destroyed, health, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter. .

In October, the UN-backed Integrated Food Insecurity Phase Classification (IPC) estimated that 1.84 million people in Gaza were experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, and 133,000 people were facing catastrophic levels that could lead to starvation and death.

The following month, the IPC committee warned that there was a strong possibility that famine was “imminent” in parts of northern Gaza.

Before the ceasefire, the UN said the besieged northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun had been largely cut off from food aid since the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in October with the stated goal of preventing a resurgence of Hamas.

A Palestinian woman who returned to her destroyed home in northern Gaza on Monday after a ceasefire took effect expressed her shock at what she found after Israeli soldiers left.

“Because of the intensity of the aggression, everything looked as if it had been hit by an earthquake,” Manal Abu al-Dragham told BBC Arabic in Gaza today.

“I will pitch my tent in the north, no matter what it costs… I don’t want to be driven from my land again.”

Mr Rose said Unrwa teams in southern Gaza, where he is based, had not yet been able to cross into northern Gaza because the Israeli military had not yet opened routes through the Netzarim corridor from east to west.

But he said Unrwa, as the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza, had networks and people on the ground who could help if they were given access.

However, Unrwa faces looming Israeli bans that could make it impossible to operate in Gaza.

Two laws passed by Israel’s parliament, which are due to take effect next week, would ban the agency from operating on Israeli soil and bar Israeli government agencies from communicating with it.

Israel has accused Unrwa of collaborating with Hamas and said 18 of its employees took part in the October 7 attack. The agency has fired nine staff members whom the UN investigation found may have been involved and has insisted it is neutral.

The UN said Unrwa was indispensable in Gaza, while the agency’s commissioner-general, Philip Lazzarini, said thousands of Palestinian staff in Gaza “will remain and work” if the Israeli government enforces the two laws, even if it “comes at considerable personal risk for them.”