Gazans Face a Precarious and Uncertain Future
Foreign Policy #177 | By: Mindy Spatt | February 15, 2025
Featured Photo By: EPA Images
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Israel’s assault on Gaza has decimated its people and infrastructure. Rebuilding will take decades, and in the meantime, the population remains dependent on international aid. Not only has Israel put drastic new restrictions on United Nations aid, but Donald Trump is pulling US funding for UN aid programs, suggesting that Palestinians should be forced out, the US take over and “build a Middle East Riviera there.
Analysis
Since the Israeli Defense Ministry (IDF) allowed Gazans to return to northern and central Gaza we’ve seen thousands of refugees returning home, on foot, to a charred and desolate landscape. Most of the Gaza Strip is piles of rubble. The infrastructure alone has sustained an estimated $18.5 billion in damage, and according to a UN report, it will take the economy 350 years to get back to its previous GDP.
The mountains of debris are everywhere and may well contain unexploded ordinance. Clearing it away will be a lengthy and arduous task requiring specialized staff and machinery that isn’t readily available in Gaza. Jonathan Crickx, Chief of Communications for UNICEF Palestine, explained to Al Jazeera that there is “no infrastructure, water is scarce,” and building supplies were already scarce. “Needs are going to be immense,” he said.
It is hard to imagine that either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority will be able to address all of those needs or have the financial resources to do. The hope is that wealthy Gulf states such as Qatar, which gave $500 million for Gaza rebuilding in 2021, will give again. With costs estimated at $50 billion, multiple funders will be needed.
In a recent speech to the World Economic Forum, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that financial aid for rebuilding Gaza would be difficult to raise in the absence of a long-term, two-state solution that would give investors a sense of stability in the region and the sustainability of their investment.
What is clear is that returning Gazans will have nowhere to live, nowhere to work, and little food to eat and will continue to be dependent on aid programs for the foreseeable future. In Gaza UNRWA, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has been the primary provider of health and education services as well as food and other basic survival needs and has recently been banned in Israel.
Israel’s legislation to ban UNRWA at a time when aid is so crucial has fueled suspicions that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s goal is to force the Palestinians out of Gaza altogether and give the land to Israeli settlers. And now Trump, who has urged the permanent removal of the Palestinian population, is rumored to want to build a hotel and resort in Gaza.
According to a statement on the UNRWA website, “The Government of Israel has stated publicly that the aim to vacate UNRWA premises in Sheikh Jarrah is to expand Israeli illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.” The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the legislation “prohibits UNRWA activity only on the sovereign territory of the state of Israel,” which it considers includes East Jerusalem but not in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israeli officials have not said how they intend to enforce the legislation, which was passed last year in the wake of accusations that UNRWA workers were collaborating with Hamas militants, a claim that UNRWA says is unfounded.
Even if the physical ban is only applied to UNRWA’s East Jerusalem headquarters, which have already been shut down, it will make it far more difficult for UNRWA to deliver aid to Gaza, since that requires communication with Israeli authorities, which is no longer legally permissible. There are also reports of UNRWA staff being unable to renew their VISAs.
The International community has condemned the ban: France, the UK, and Germany issued a unified statement opposing the ban, and Norway publicly announced a $24 million donation to the agency.
A UN committee on Palestinian Rights issued a statement reading, in part, “Coming immediately after the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel’s ban on UNRWA is a blatant move that will exacerbate Palestinian suffering – not with airstrikes and bombs, but with deprivation, hunger, and disease. Israel, due to its status as an occupying power, has no sovereignty in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, where the UNRWA headquarters is located. The UNRWA ban is as unlawful as the Israeli occupation itself.
Trump’s ridiculous suggestion that the US take over Gaza makes things more uncertain. Palestinians are unwilling to move and the neighboring countries ot Egypt and Jordan have refused to take them, fearing they might destabilize their own countries. Not only does the US have no authority over the territory or its people, the thought of forcibly moving an entire ethnic group conjures up images of the forcible displacement and extermination of Jews in World War II.
Engagement Resources
- Statement Of The Bureau Of The General Assembly’s Committee On The Exercise Of The Inalienable Rights Of The Palestinian People
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/un-palestinian-rights-committee-bureau-statement-unrwa-ban-31jan2025/ - The Government Of Israel Orders UNRWA To Vacate Its Premises In Occupied East Jerusalem And Cease Operations In Them, Jan. 26, 2025,
https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/government-israel-orders-unrwa-vacate-its-premises-occupied-east - Gaza ‘Ceasefire at Risk’ if UNRWA Forced to Stop Operations, Jan. 31, 2025,
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/31/gaza-ceasefire-at-risk-if-unrwa-forced-to-stop-operations#ixzz8yxGSR1bz - UNRWA: Claims Versus Facts
https://www.unrwa.org/unrwa-claims-versus-facts-february-2024
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