Gazans’ future in limbo as ‘day-after’ plan remains out of reach
Even if ceasefire holds, absence of a plan to rebuild the Strip leaves many Palestinians without a concrete future as Trump suggests permanent resettlement

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if the long-awaited hostage-ceasefire agreement holds, but many will find there is nothing left and no way to rebuild.
The question of when — or even if — much of the enclave will be rebuilt has taken on increased urgency in light of US President Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the territory and that the United States take “ownership” of the enclave.
The agreement for a phased ceasefire in Israel’s campaign to topple the Hamas terror group and the release of hostages held in the Strip, which went into effect last month, does not say who will govern Gaza after the war, or whether Israel and Egypt will lift a blockade limiting the movement of people and goods that they imposed when Hamas seized power in 2007.
In late January, Gaza’s Hamas authorities announced that most of the 650,000 people displaced southward by the war had reentered Gaza City and the northern edge of the enclave.
But those returning found the area to be virtually uninhabitable, with major roads plowed up, water and electricity infrastructure in ruins and nonexistent medical services.
Permission for displaced Gazans to return to the north of the enclave was a key demand by Hamas in the ceasefire that halted the 15-month war it started on October 7, 2023, when it led thousands of terrorists to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed 20,000 fighters in Gaza and another 1,000 in the Hamas invasion.

The ceasefire agreement calls for a three to five-year reconstruction project to begin in its third and final phase, after all the remaining hostages have been released and Israeli troops have withdrawn from the territory.
But getting to that point will require agreement on the deal’s second phase, which still must be negotiated.
Even then, the ability to rebuild is hindered by the blockade on the Strip. It is unlikely Israel will agree to lift the blockade so long as Hamas remains in power, but there are no plans for an alternative government.
The US and much of the international community want a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern the West Bank and Gaza with the support of Arab countries ahead of eventual statehood.
But that’s a nonstarter for Israel’s government, which is opposed to a Palestinian state and has ruled out any role in Gaza for the Western-backed authority.
International donors are unlikely to invest in an ungoverned territory that has seen five wars in less than two decades, which means the sprawling tent camps along the coast could become a permanent feature of life in Gaza.
The UN says that it could take more than 350 years to rebuild if the blockade remains.
The full extent of the damage will only be known when the fighting ends and inspectors have full access to the territory. The most heavily destroyed part of Gaza, in the north, had been sealed off and largely depopulated by Israeli forces in an operation that began in early October.
Using satellite data, the UN estimated last month that 69% of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including over 245,000 homes.
The World Bank estimated $18.5 billion in damage — nearly the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022 — from just the first four months of the war.
The UN estimates that the war has littered Gaza with over 50 million tons of rubble — roughly 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. With over 100 trucks working full time, the international agency claimed it would take over 15 years to clear the rubble away.
Carting the debris away will also be complicated by the fact that it contains huge amounts of unexploded ordnance and other harmful materials, as well as human remains. Gaza’s Health Ministry says thousands of people killed in airstrikes are still buried under the rubble.
The rubble clearance and eventual rebuilding of homes will require billions of dollars and the ability to bring construction materials and heavy equipment into the territory — neither of which is assured.