Uncertainty Surrounds Gaza Reconstruction Amid Renewed Israeli Strikes

Palestinian children near the tents of the displaced in Khan Younis. (Reuters)
Palestinian children near the tents of the displaced in Khan Younis. (Reuters)
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Uncertainty Surrounds Gaza Reconstruction Amid Renewed Israeli Strikes

Palestinian children near the tents of the displaced in Khan Younis. (Reuters)
Palestinian children near the tents of the displaced in Khan Younis. (Reuters)

Israel’s renewed military strikes on Gaza have cast doubt on efforts to secure international support for the Arab-Islamic reconstruction plan.

Observers and experts argued that rebuilding Gaza is contingent on advancing to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement. They highlighted the roles of Egypt and Qatar in mediation, but acknowledge that Israeli and US support for reconstruction remains uncertain.

Israel launched fresh airstrikes across Gaza on Tuesday, vowing to intensify military action following stalled negotiations with Hamas over hostage releases.

Egypt strongly condemned the attacks, warning they undermine peace efforts. In a joint call, the Egyptian president and the Emir of Kuwait urged the international community to push for an immediate ceasefire, the implementation of a two-state solution, and the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.

Despite the violence, diplomatic efforts to promote the reconstruction plan continued. Dr. Abdel Moneim Said, a member of Egypt’s Shura Council, told Asharq Al-Awsat that negotiations and mediation efforts remain active. He described the plan as a vital step toward Gaza’s recovery and broader regional stability.

Ambassador Mohamed Hegazy of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that while Israel has backed away from the ceasefire agreement, Egypt and Arab nations will continue pushing for peace and rebuilding efforts. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he hoped that international pressure could prevent further escalation.

Before Israel’s latest strikes, Egypt had intensified its efforts to rally support for the reconstruction plan. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty engaged in discussions with officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Qatar, Palestine, Türkiye, Nigeria, and Indonesia, focusing on implementing the outcomes of the Cairo emergency summit.

Additionally, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry hosted on Monday a meeting with over 100 ambassadors and international organization representatives to discuss rehabilitating Gaza’s healthcare system. Abdelatty stressed that a lasting ceasefire is essential for successful reconstruction. He also announced plans for a reconstruction conference in Cairo to secure funding.

Dr. Ayman Al-Raqab, a Palestinian political scientist at Al-Quds University, identified Israel as the primary obstacle to rebuilding Gaza.

Only the US has the leverage to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire, yet Washington has given Tel Aviv the green light to continue its military campaign, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Washington has not taken any concrete steps to support the reconstruction plan,” Al-Raqab said, adding that progress hinges on advancing to the second phase of the ceasefire—something that has yet to be achieved.

Former Egyptian deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Rakha Ahmed Hassan argued that Israel has deliberately obstructed reconstruction efforts, evidenced by its resistance to negotiations on the second phase of the truce. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that renewed strikes could further Israel’s alleged goal of displacing Palestinians, a move Egypt and Arab states firmly oppose.

The US position on Gaza’s reconstruction has been inconsistent. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce recently stated that the proposed agreement “does not meet expectations,” while former US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff praised Egypt’s efforts but refrained from endorsing the plan. He acknowledged it as a “good-faith step”, but called for further discussions.

The Arab-Islamic reconstruction plan proposes a six-month transitional governance committee composed of independent technocrats under the Palestinian Authority’s oversight. The plan includes temporary housing for displaced Gazans at seven designated sites, capable of sheltering over 1.5 million people. The total cost is estimated at $53 billion, with an expected five-year timeline for completion.



Gaza's Main Hospital is Overwhelmed with Children in Pain from Malnutrition

Palestinians bake bread after the World Food Program was able to bring in flour for the first time in over a month as Israel allowed some aid to enter the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians bake bread after the World Food Program was able to bring in flour for the first time in over a month as Israel allowed some aid to enter the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza's Main Hospital is Overwhelmed with Children in Pain from Malnutrition

Palestinians bake bread after the World Food Program was able to bring in flour for the first time in over a month as Israel allowed some aid to enter the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians bake bread after the World Food Program was able to bring in flour for the first time in over a month as Israel allowed some aid to enter the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Grabbing her daughter's feeble arm, Asmaa al-Arja pulls a shirt over the 2-year-old's protruding ribs and swollen belly. The child lies on a hospital bed, heaving, then wails uncontrollably, throwing her arms around her own shoulders as if to console herself.

This isn't the first time Mayar has been in a Gaza hospital battling malnutrition, yet this 17-day stint is the longest. She has celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that means she can't eat gluten and requires special food. But there's little left for her to eat in the embattled enclave after 19 months of war and Israel's punishing blockade, and she can't digest what's available.

“She needs diapers, soy milk and she needs special food. This is not available because of border closures. If it's available, it is expensive, I can’t afford it,” her mother said as she sat next to Mayar at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, The AP news reported.

Mayar is among the more than 9,000 children who have been treated for malnutrition this year, according to the UN children’s agency, and food security experts say tens of thousands of cases are expected in the coming year.

Experts also warn the territory could plunge into famine if Israel doesn’t stop its military campaign and fully lift its blockade — but the World Health Organization said last week that people are already starving.

“Everywhere you look, people are hungry. ... They point their fingers to their mouths showing that (they) need something to eat,” said Nestor Owomuhangi, the representative of the United Nations Population Fund for the Palestinian territories. “The worst has already arrived in Gaza.”

Israel eases blockade but little aid reaches Palestinians For more than two months, Israel has banned all food, medicine and other goods from entering the territory that is home to some 2 million Palestinians, as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations. Palestinians in Gaza rely almost entirely on outside aid to survive because Israel's offensive has destroyed almost all the territory's food production capabilities.

After weeks of insisting Gaza had enough food, Israel relented in the face of international pressure and began allowing dozens of humanitarian trucks into the territory this week — including some carrying baby food.

“Children are already dying from malnutrition and there are more babies in Gaza now who will be in mortal danger if they don’t get fast access to the nutrition supplies needed to save their lives,” said Tess Ingram of the UN children’s agency.

But UN agencies say the amount is woefully insufficient, compared to around 600 trucks a day that entered during a recent ceasefire and that are necessary to meet basic needs. And they have struggled to retrieve the aid and distribute it, blaming complicated Israeli military procedures and the breakdown of law and order inside the territory.

On Wednesday, a UN official said more than a dozen trucks arrived at warehouses in central Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. That appeared to be the first aid to actually reach a distribution point since the blockade was lifted.

Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid, without providing evidence, and plans to roll out a new aid distribution system within days. UN agencies and aid groups say the new system would fall far short of mounting needs, force much of the population to flee again in order to be closer to distribution sites, and violate humanitarian principles by forcing people to move to receive the aid rather than delivering it based on need to where people live.

On top of not being able to find or afford the food that Mayar needs, her mother said chronic diarrhea linked to celiac disease has kept the child in and out of hospital all year. The toddler — whose two pigtails are brittle, a sign of malnutrition — weighs 7 kilograms (15 pounds), according to doctors. That's about half what healthy girl her age should.

But it’s getting harder to help her as supplies like baby formula are disappearing, say health staff.

Hospitals are hanging by a thread, dealing with mass casualties from Israeli strikes. Packed hospital feeding centers are overwhelmed with patients.

“We have nothing at Nasser Hospital," said Dr. Ahmed al-Farrah, who said his emergency center for malnourished children is at full capacity. Supplies are running out, people are living off scraps, and the situation is catastrophic for babies and pregnant women, he said.

Everything watered down to make it last In the feeding center of the hospital, malnourished mothers console their hungry children — some so frail their spines jut out of their skin, their legs swollen from lack food.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, has warned that there could be some 71,000 cases of malnourished children between now and March. In addition, nearly 17,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will need treatment for acute malnutrition in the coming months.

Mai Namleh and her 18-month-old son, who live in a tent, are both malnourished. She wanted to wean him off of breastmilk because she barely has any, but she has so little else to give him.

She gives him heavily watered-down formula to ration it, and sometimes offers him starch to quiet his hunger screams. “I try to pass it for milk to stop him screaming,” she said of the formula.

An aid group gave her around 30 packets of nutritional supplements, but they ran out in two days as she shared them with family and friends, she said.

In another tent, Nouf al-Arja says she paid a fortune for a hard-to-find kilogram (about 2 pounds) of red lentils. The family cooks it with a lot of water so it lasts, unsure what they will eat next. The mother of four has lost 23 kilograms (50 pounds) and struggles to focus, saying she constantly feels dizzy.

Both she and her 3-year-old daughter are malnourished, doctors said. She's worried her baby boy, born four months earlier and massively underweight, will suffer the same fate as she struggles to breastfeed.

“I keep looking for (infant food) .... so I can feed him. There is nothing," she said.