The Palestinian Authority has unveiled a three-stage plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip at an investment of $67 billion over five years. PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said that in the first phase, $3.5 billion would be required for immediate humanitarian needs and critical infrastructure.
After that, the second phase would last three years and would invest $30 billion, and only in the third and final phase would work be done to complete the reconstruction of the extensive destruction in Gaza
as a result of the two-year Israel-Hamas War.
The plan presented by Mustafa is based on a United Nations report from last February, which estimated the cost of the damage in the Strip at about $70 billion. An investigation conducted last week by the BBC’s Fact-Checking Department, based on satellite images, found that the extent of the destruction could require in excess of 60 million tons of debris to be evacuated before actual reconstruction begins.
“The level of destruction in the area now stands at 84%,” UN Development Agency envoy for Palestinian affairs Jaco Cilliers said. “In certain areas of Gaza, for example, Gaza City, this rises to 92%.” According to the Gaza Municipality, about 90% of the roads have also been damaged.
Mustafa said that talks are underway between Ramallah and international partners regarding the reconstruction process, while it also aims to regain control of the Strip.
No ability to rehabilitate
Dr. Ido Zelkovitz, an expert on Palestinian affairs, head of the Middle East Studies program at Yezreel Valley College, and a researcher at Haifa University, said, “The Palestinian Authority has no ability to rehabilitate itself. It is a regional actor that is trying to rely on the Saudis and the UAE, in order to take part in the Trump plan. Ramallah is itself facing a severe economic crisis, following the failure to transfer funds from Israel.”
Zelkovitz stressed that most of the PA’s economy relies on overseas donations, aimed at maintaining a bloated public sector. “The situation in Ramallah is evident from the fact that salaries for its staff have been cut consistently over the past year and a half. Even now, after the latest cut has resulted in many Palestinian Authority officials receiving about half their salaries, they still continue to come to work to try and maintain a minimum level of state functioning. A function that is required from Ramallah’s perspective, in order to try to present itself to the international community as a legitimate state actor.”
Hamas terrorists continue to commit their crimes against the residents of Gaza, with destruction all around them. The UN Satellite Center (UNOSAT) estimated that about 282,000 homes and apartments in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
According to UNICEF, more than 70% of the water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged, and energy is almost nonexistent. The Strip was reliant on receiving energy from Israel and fuel flows from outside, which stopped during the war.
In contrast, Hamas backed up many tunnels with solar panels that continue to pump energy.
The future of the Gaza Strip is also shrouded in uncertainty. Analysis by Prof. He Yin of Kent State University found that across Gaza, 82.4% of annual crops and more than 97% of tree crops were likely to have suffered damage during the war up to 10 August this year, according to a report by the BBC.
Widely discredited UNRWA
In addition, the widely discredited UNRWA claimed that about 91.8% of the 288 schools it operated in the Strip had been damaged.
Qatar and Turkey – two countries that are not waiting for Hamas to give up power in the Strip – are leading the charge for reconstruction, perhaps even preferring to “push” aid to Gaza to establish facts on the ground that enable their terrorist friends in Hamas to remain in control.
In Turkey, the Erdogan regime rushed to turn on the propaganda machine over the weekend to complain about the blocking of Turks from entering the Strip. The public broadcasting corporation TRT, which operates in Israel from a Jerusalem bureau, reported that 81 “Turkish aid workers and AFAD rescue agency personnel” were waiting at the Rafah crossing.
Dr. Yoel Guzansky, who previously coordinated the handling of Iran and the Gulf at the National Security Council and currently serves as a senior researcher and head of the Gulf program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University, said that the current situation in the Gaza Strip is worse than before October 7, because while Israel previously was used to Qatar, now not only Qatar but also Turkey are involved there, within the framework of a United States umbrella for the ceasefire agreement.
‘Bad direction’
“Right now, things are moving in a bad direction,” Dr. Guzansky adds. “Turkey and Qatar, so to speak, are coming without preconditions, unlike the Saudis and the UAE, who sent low-ranking officials to the Sharm el-Sheikh conference due to their dissatisfaction. The Saudis want the Palestinian Authority in Gaza or a broad regional solution.
“The UAE wants a reformed Palestinian Authority and a political horizon, the kind that is difficult to see in the current government. My fear is that we are going to see the Qataris and Turks in the Gaza Strip with a worse situation than before the war.”
According to Guzansky, Qatar and Turkey are interested in maintaining Hamas as sovereign, and are therefore acting in strict coordination.
“The Qataris and Turks told Hamas, ‘Let’s sign a ceasefire agreement, and we will dissolve it in Phase II.’ Hamas wanted the war to stop, and now, with each passing day, the terror group is growing stronger. Time is working in Hamas’s favor.
“It is true that the Qataris are wealthy, but they are more pragmatic, thanks to US influence, whereas Turkey has an antisemitic leader in every sense of the word, who aspires to lead the Middle East. Israel should not allow any Turks to enter the Gaza Strip. If bulldozers are needed, then let them enter with the Egyptians,” he said.
In an attempt to protect the interests of the West and prevent Qatar and Turkey from restoring “order” in Gaza to the situation that existed before October 7, 2023, or even worse, as Guzansky warned, the United Kingdom, Egypt, and the PA last week convened senior private sector officials at Wilton Park, an executive agency of the UK Foreign Office, to bring investment to the devastated Strip.
“The scale of the destruction makes clear the immediate need for solutions,” a joint statement said.
“Rebuilding Gaza will cost tens of billions of dollars and will require funding and active participation from the private sector. Discussions have made significant progress in identifying ways to generate private financing, while placing Palestinians at the front and center of recovery and reconstruction efforts.” (Globes/TNS)