In the midst of a still shaky ceasefire, Gazans are taking the first tentative steps along the long road to recovery.
Bulldozers are clearing roads, shovelling the detritus of war into waiting trucks. Mountains of rubble and twisted metal are on either side, the remains of once bustling neighbourhoods.
Parts of Gaza City are disfigured beyond recognition. This was my house, says Abu Iyad Hamdouna. He points to a mangled heap of concrete and steel in Sheikh Radwan, which was once one of Gaza City's most densely populated neighbourhoods. It was here. But there's no house left.
Abu Iyad is 63. If Gaza ever rises from the ashes, he doesn't expect to be around to see it. At this rate, I think it'll take 10 years. He looks exhausted and resigned. We'll be dead... we'll die without seeing reconstruction. Nearby, 43-year-old Nihad al-Madhoun and his nephew Said are picking through the wreckage of what was once a home. The removal of rubble alone might take more than five years, he says. And we will wait. We have no other option.\
The sheer scale of the challenge is staggering. The UN estimates the cost of damage at £53bn ($70bn). Almost 300,000 houses and apartments have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN's satellite centre Unosat. The Gaza Strip is littered with 60 million tonnes of rubble, mixed in with dangerous unexploded bombs and dead bodies.
In all, more than 68,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the past two years, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are accepted by the United Nations and other international bodies. There's no shortage of ideas—including grand designs conceived by those with money and power in faraway capitals. The fight is on to shape Gaza's future. But Gazans we spoke to are sceptical of schemes drawn up abroad, and they have visions of their own.
Yahya al-Sarraj, Gaza City's Hamas-appointed mayor, is out on the streets wearing a hi-vis jacket and surveying the ruins. Already, shops and restaurants are starting to reopen, he points out. Of course it's very modest, he says, but they want to live, and they deserve to live. Gaza is no stranger to these destructions, he adds, recalling several conflicts prior to the cataclysm that erupted, following the devastating attack that Hamas launched on Israel on 7 October 2023. We heard about a lot of plans, international, local, regional plans. [But] we have our own plan. We call it the Phoenix of Gaza. This was the first home-grown Palestinian plan to emerge during the war.
However, the creators of the Phoenix plan know its fate is out of their hands, as competing interests in the Middle East and beyond jostle for control of Gaza's future. This vision stands in sharp contrast to external proposals like the Gaza Riviera, a controversial concept touted by former US President Donald Trump that suggests high-end developments in the region.
Ultimately, the path towards Gaza's recovery remains fraught with complexity, with reconstruction efforts likely to span decades. As locals like Abu Iyad Hamdouna seek basic necessities, the future of their homes and lives hangs precariously between competing visions of what Gaza should become.
