‘A long, long road ahead’: Gaza rebuilds from zero

What of Donald Trump’s suggestion that people should move, temporarily or permanently, to Egypt or Jordan?

Egyptian and Jordanian officials were quick to condemn the suggestion. Both countries fear the social and security implications of a sudden influx of traumatised refugees.

“Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said. His country is already home to 2.4 million registered Palestinian refugees.

Among Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet colleagues, President Trump’s suggestion received an enthusiastic welcome.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who favours Israeli annexation and settlement of the Gaza Strip, called it “a great idea”.

Last year, speaking at a conference of supporters, he talked of creating “a situation where Gaza’s population will be reduced to half its current size in two years”.

Unless Gaza is quickly rehabilitated and Gazans are given a glimpse of a better future, Smotrich may have his way.

“I think for the first few months, they will see what will happen,” journalist Ghada el-Kurd says. “If they lost everything and the reconstruction process is delayed, I think people will not stay in Gaza.”

Around 150,000 people have already left since the war began in October 2023.

Ghada says she expects others who can afford it to follow, seeking futures in the Arab world or beyond, while the poorest and most vulnerable are left behind.

“I agree with Trump that people deserve a better life,” she says. “But why not in Gaza?”