Gaza
Long reliant on humanitarian aid due to the Israeli blockade, by October 2025, after two years of war, Gaza’s economy was in ruins –unemployment exceeded 80 percent, 92 percent of its private homes had been destroyed, and more than 98 percent of its farmland was rendered unusable. Rebuilding cost estimates range from 50 to 80 billion dollars, but it remains unclear who will foot the bill.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem during the 1967 War. As of 2010, the Palestinian population of the West Bank was approximately 2.4 million, and Gaza's population totaled 1.6 million. High population density, limited land access, and strict internal and external security controls have kept economic conditions in the Gaza Strip - the smaller of the two areas under the Palestinian Authority (PA)- even more degraded than in the West Bank. Hamas, a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization, violently assumed control over Gaza in June 2007, making worse the already dangerous security situation there. West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel removed settlers and military personnel from the Gaza Strip in August 2005.
Covering a land area of 360 sq. km (approximately twice the size of Washington, DC) with a population of nearly 1.8 million in 2014, the Gaza Strip is a narrow sliver of land in the westernmost portion of the Palestinian territories in Southwest Asia and borders Egypt, Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea. This region has a temperate climate with mild winters and dry, warm to hot summers. The terrain consists of flat to rolling, sand-and-dune covered coastal plains. The Gaza Strip's borders were originally defined by the armistice lines between Egypt and Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Gaza Strip was occupied by Egyptian forces until the region was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Gaza is famous for its moderate weather in the summer and winter, which encourages the people, to go to the beaches, parks and gardens. People also spend their leisure time on farms, orchards, and at touristic facilities. The most beautiful sights in Gaza are the sea, the beaches, the coast, the sky, the golden bright sand, the sun and warmth, and the soft breeze.
Situated at the climate division line and the latitude 31.3 degree north to the Equator. Gaza has occupied a dividing position between the desert in the south and the Mediterranean climate in the north. This location, as such, had made the city acquire the role of a prosperous trading market for world products, both tropical, and cold. This importance was reinforced by its distinguished position on a hill, 45m above sea level and within a range of 3 Km. away from the sea.
Gaza's population is composed almost entirely of Muslim Palestinians, and also has a small Palestinian Christian community. A massive influx of Palestinian refugees swelled Gaza's population after the 1948 Arab Israeli war. By 1967 the population had grown to about six times its 1948 size.
Gaza is the economic center for a region in which citrus fruits and other crops are grown. Many Gazans work in Israel service and industry when the border is open. The city contains some small industry, including textiles and food processing. A variety of wares are sold in Gaza's street bazaars, including carpets, pottery, wicker furniture, and cotton clothing; commercial development in the city is minimal. Gaza serves as a transportation hub for the Gaza Strip, and contains a small port that serves a local fishing fleet.
Places of interest to the visitor are the Great Omari Mosque, the Mosque of Al Ssayed Hashem, the Mosque of Ibn Othman, the Mosque of Ibn Marwan, The Sheikh Abul Azm sanctuary, the Sheikh Ajlin sanctuary, Tell al Mintar, Napoleon's fort (Al Radwan Castle), and the Church of St. Porphyrius. The city also has many new resorts where tourists and local people can swim and relax by the beach or swimming pools.
Moshe Feiglin, the deputy speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, published a plan 01 August 2014 for the total destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Feiglin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, called for the use of concentration camps, amounting to direct and public incitement to genocide – a punishable crime under the Genocide Convention.
What is needed now is to internalize that Oslo is over, that this is our country – only our country, including Gaza! There are no two states and no two peoples - there is only one state for one people. Following this internalization, a deep and fundamental strategic change is required - both in defining the enemy, in defining the mission, in defining the strategic goal, and of course - in defining the correct and required fighting ethics.
1 – Defining the enemy - The strategic enemy is radical Arab Islam with all its metastases from Iran to Gaza, which seeks to eliminate all of Israel. The enemy in sight is Hamas. (Not the tunnels, not the rockets – Hamas)
2 – Task definition: The occupation of the entire Strip and the elimination of all fighting forces and their supporters.
3 – Defining the strategic goal: Turn Gaza into Jaffa. A thriving Israeli city with a minimum of hostile citizens.
4 – Defining the morality of warfare: "Woe to the wicked and woe to his neighbor"
In light of these four points, Israel must immediately take the following actions:
A - The IDF will define open areas on the Sinai border and near the sea where the civilian population will concentrate - away from the built-up area and the launch and tunneling areas. Tent camps will be set up in these areas until relevant migration destinations are located. The supply of electricity and water to previously populated areas will be cut off.
B – The areas that were populated will be bombarded with maximum firepower. All Hamas civilian and military facilities, means of communication and logistics will be completely destroyed.
C – The IDF will dissect the Strip lengthwise and widthwise, greatly expand the roads, take control of controlled areas, and destroy any remaining pockets of resistance.
D – Israel will begin identifying countries and immigration quotas for Gaza refugees. Those wishing to immigrate will receive a generous economic assistance package and will arrive in receiving countries with significant economic capacity.
E – Anyone who insists on staying and proves that they have no connection to Hamas will be required to publicly sign a declaration of loyalty to Israel and will receive a blue identity card similar to that of the Arabs of East Jerusalem.
And - when the fighting subsides, Israeli law will be applied throughout the Strip, those expelled from Gush Katif will be invited to return to their communities, and Gaza City and its suburbs will be built as Israeli tourist and commercial cities for all intents and purposes.
A report by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said September 01, 2015 that Gaza could become uninhabitable in less than five years if current economic trends persist. UNCTAD said the eight-year economic blockade of Gaza by Israel, as well as three military operations in the past six years, had shattered Gaza’s ability to export and produce for the domestic market. The report said donor support for Gaza remains vitally important, although it will not reverse the ongoing lack of development and impoverishment of the Palestinian people. UNCTAD appealed to donors to fulfill the pledges made at a conference in Cairo last year. It noted that only 27 percent of the $5 billion pledged for reconstruction in Gaza had been met.
After the 15 January 2025 announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the Israeli army and Hamas in Gaza, the issue of losses in buildings, public and private property, and infrastructure comes to the fore, especially with the efforts that will be made towards reconstruction, after a devastating war that left tens of thousands dead and wounded.
UN estimates show that rebuilding the Gaza Strip after the end of the war will require billions of dollars due to the massive destruction caused by the Israeli military operation that erupted after Hamas' surprise attack on sites and areas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. A UN report published in 2024 showed that rebuilding destroyed homes in the Gaza Strip could take at least until 2040, and it could take longer than that. According to UN satellite data published in December, two-thirds of Gaza’s pre-war buildings, more than 170,000, were destroyed or razed to the ground. That’s about 69 percent of the total buildings in the Gaza Strip. The UN estimates that this census includes a total of 245,123 housing units. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that more than 1.8 million people are currently in need of shelter in Gaza.
A report by the United Nations and the World Bank stated that the damage to infrastructure is estimated at about $18.5 billion until the end of January 2024, and affected residential buildings, shops, factories, schools, hospitals and power stations. An update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs this month showed that water supplies are now less than a quarter of pre-war levels, while at least 68 percent of the road network has been severely damaged.
Satellite images analysed by UN experts showed that more than half of Gaza's agricultural land, vital to feeding the starving population in the war-torn enclave, had been degraded by the conflict. The data revealed an increase in the destruction of orchards, fields and vegetables in the Palestinian enclave, where hunger is widespread after 15 months of Israeli bombardment.
Palestinian data shows that the conflict has destroyed more than 200 government facilities, 136 schools and universities, 823 mosques and three churches. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report showed that many hospitals were destroyed or damaged during the conflict, with only 17 out of 36 functioning, and only partially functioning, in January 2025. More than 70% of schools, most of which are run by UNRWA and where many civilians have taken refuge from the fighting, have been damaged.
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