Gaza reconstruction will take ‘a long time’, says UN official

The reconstruction process in the devastated Palestinian territory “will take a very long time” despite a promised increase in humanitarian deliveries, a UN official in Gaza has warned.

“We are not just talking about food, healthcare, buildings, roads and infrastructure. We have individuals, families and communities that need to be rebuilt,” said Sam Rose, acting director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, he told the BBC.

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

The trucks brought desperately needed food, tents, blankets, mattresses and winter clothing that had been trapped outside Gaza for months.

The ceasefire deal reportedly calls for 600 aid trucks, including 50 with fuel, to be allowed into Gaza every day during the six-week first phase, during which Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages. Israelis in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

“We expect a significant increase in the volume of aid that is coming in and of course it is much easier for us to go collect that aid because many of the problems we have faced so far in the war disappear when the fighting stops. “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 any major problems of looting and crime.”

But he also stressed that “we have to stop thinking about the needs of people in Gaza based on the volume of aid.”

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

Meanwhile, World Health Organization regional director Hanan Balkhy said she had a 60-day plan to get Gaza’s health system back up and running to meet the urgent needs of the population and prioritize care for thousands of people with life-changing injuries.

The plan includes repairing Gaza’s hospitals – half of which are out of service and the rest only partially functioning – establishing temporary clinics in the worst affected areas, addressing malnutrition and controlling 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 restrictions on aid deliveries, hostilities and the breakdown of law and order.

Israel has insisted there are no limits to the amount of aid that can be delivered to and through Gaza and blames UN agencies for not distributing 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 some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Israel says 91 of the hostages remain in captivity.

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

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have also been displaced several times, an estimated 60% of buildings are damaged or destroyed, healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed and there is a severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter. .

In October, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimated that 1.84 million people across Gaza were experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, and that 133,000 people were facing catastrophic levels, which may cause famine and death.

The following month, an IPC committee warned that there was a strong likelihood that famine was “imminent” in some areas of northern Gaza.

Before the ceasefire, the UN said the besieged towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in the north had been largely cut off from food assistance since the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in October aimed declared to prevent a resurgence of Hamas.

A Palestinian woman who returned to her destroyed home in northern Gaza on Monday after the ceasefire came into effect expressed surprise at what she had found after Israeli soldiers withdrew.

“The whole place looked as if it had been hit by an earthquake because of the severity of the aggression,” Manal Abu al-Dragham told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today programme.

“I will set up shop in the north, whatever the cost… I don’t want to be displaced from my land again.”

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

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

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

Two laws passed by the Israeli parliament, which will come into force next week, will prohibit the agency from operating within Israeli territory and prevent Israeli state agencies from communicating with it.

Israel accused Unrwa of being complicit with Hamas and said 18 of its staff took part in the Oct. 7 attack. The agency fired nine employees who a U.N. investigation said may have been involved and insisted it is committed to neutrality.

The UN has said that UNRWA is irreplaceable in Gaza, while the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, has stated that its thousands of Palestinian employees in Gaza “will stay and comply” if the Israeli government implements the two laws, although ” would come at “considerable personal risk” to them.