As Gaza begins to transition slowly back to normal with the Rafah crossing open and the Trump peace plan moving ahead, it’s worth considering some of the issues that still require changing.
The US-backed peace plan for Gaza has several phases and steps. We are now in the second phase, and opening Rafah was a key part of it.
Replacing the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has not appeared to be a priority, but it should be. This is a key step for moving forward and enabling transparent information to come out of Gaza.
The Palestinian technical committee that will assist the Board of Peace to run Gaza has also been announced. This is an important step forward.
The Palestinian technical committee faces many hurdles, however, and one of them is that it doesn’t control any territory.
Israel has appeared to be nonplussed by the committee and is not yet empowering it to work in the part of Gaza the IDF controls. On the other hand, the other part of Gaza is still controlled by Hamas.
Gaza still controlled by Hamas
This creates a catch-22. While Gaza is supposed to be returning to normal, the presence of Hamas will continue to work against that normality.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007, when it carried out a coup against the Palestinian Authority. That coup forced many people linked to the Palestinian Fatah movement to flee Gaza.
It also led to Hamas taking over many of the institutions there. This essentially led Hamas to run the police, the Gaza Health Ministry, and other key institutions.
Stripping these civil institutions of their professionalism hollowed them out and led to them becoming arms of Hamas. This situation has dominated Gaza for more than a generation.
Essentially, 20 years have been lost in Gaza. Hamas was able to pervert institutions and use them for its benefit, notably during the endless wars it carried out against Israel.
A key example of this is the problematic way in which Hamas infiltrated health authorities in Gaza. Hamas has treated the health sector as a strategic node of control, including the Hamas Health Ministry, NGOs, and hospitals.
Every terrorist group or military needs command and control, and they use various nodes in a network to exercise control. For Hamas, control is not just about tunnels and missiles; it is also about controlling civilians and infiltrating civilian institutions.
For the terrorist group, the propaganda war is as important as the real war. Using schools or areas where people shelter for cover is a key part of Hamas’s strategy.
Throughout the Israel-Hamas War, one of the challenges has been trying to get reliable information from Gaza.
Information that comes from the Hamas Health Ministry is always disputed: Is it correct information, or is it false? Is it information put out by Hamas or by legitimate health authorities? What about the claims that Hamas members, even high-ranking officers, have infiltrated health institutions?
All of these issues have been a feature of the war in Gaza.
As the war is now in a ceasefire phase and moving toward more normalcy, the opportunity may present itself to replace the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. This would enable the technocrats to have their own data and control the ministry rather than Hamas.
This would go a long way toward enabling better information to come out of Gaza. In the case of clashes in the future, it would also enable better details on health affairs.
With about half of the area now controlled by the IDF and reports indicating that some small, anti-Hamas militias operate in Gaza, it may be possible to also carve out a nascent health authority.