Gaza rebuild will take ‘a lot of time’, says UN official

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, the hostilities and the breakdown of law and order.

Israel has insisted there are no limits to the amount of aid that can be delivered into and across Gaza and blames UN agencies for failing to distribute supplies. It 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 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were 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 territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has also been displaced multiple times, 60% of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

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

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

Before the ceasefire, the UN said the besieged northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun had been largely cut off from food assistance since the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in October with the stated aim of preventing a Hamas resurgence.

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

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

“I will set up my tent in the north no matter what it costs… I do not want to be displaced from my land again.”