Gazans returning home face major challenges: Hamas official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Gazans who are returning to their homes following the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas movement will face major challenges as the city’s infrastructure has been ruined, a senior official from the Palestinian group said on Thursday.

“The main challenge lies in enabling people to resume their normal lives after the massive destruction the sector has witnessed,” Basim Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Rudaw, adding that there must be an initiative to fill the needs of Gazans in terms of food, water, medicine and fuel. 

He noted that there is a plan to hold an international event seeking humanitarian aid for Gaza. 

There is plan for “a major international conference, with regional and international actors participating, aimed at gathering necessary funding for Gaza's reconstruction," where "it is estimated that the sector has suffered destruction ranging between 70 percent  and 80 percent, including homes, schools, universities, hospitals, churches, as well as infrastructure such as water wells and electricity networks."

An estimated 60 percent of structures across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN. 

The destruction has left much of Gaza’s population without basic living necessities such as a kitchen and a bathroom, let alone living spaces. 

The ceasefire comes after months of arduous, on-and-off negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States. 

Palestinian Hamas militants launched a large-scale incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures. Israel responded with a massive ongoing offensive in Gaza, killing more than 46,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Naim did not hide his concern that "the enemy might breach the agreement terms at any moment, through carrying out assassination operations or committing killings here or there," warning that "the resistance will respond, however, the main goal remains working together to make the agreement successful and achieve stability."

According to the agreement, the Rafah crossing will open starting from the seventh day of implementing the agreement, allowing travelers to exit through  Egypt, with initial priority given to the wounded and sick, where limited numbers including fifty wounded and fifty sick have been agreed upon.

However, Naim confirmed that actual treatment needs outside Gaza Strip far exceed these numbers. According to estimates, there are about 120,000 wounded, "of whom at least 10,000 to 15,000 wounded are in urgent need of treatment outside the sector, due to the massive destruction of health infrastructure and medical services inside Gaza."

Naim said resuming normal life in Gaza Strip needs several basic conditions, most importantly ensuring continued calm, with Israeli side commitment to implementing agreement terms, in addition to opening all crossings to bring in basic needs continuously and without obstacles.