SSP Diaries | What next for the Gaza?

On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel killing some 1,300 persons and taking hundreds of hostages. Within a week of that attack, Israel responded and killed approximately 1,400 Palestinians, signalling the beginning of what we now know as one of the greatest massacres of human beings and destruction of infrastructure that mankind has witnessed in the ‘modern’ world.

An initial act of ‘revenge’ spiralled out of control, becoming a relentless drive to destroy the inhabitants of Gaza by whatever means possible. This built-up hatred fuelled a war between Hamas and Israel that spread over boundaries to impact Lebanon, Iran and even Syria, to name a few.

According to Wikipedia, ‘as of January 8, 2025, over 47,000 people – 45,906 Palestinians and 1,706 Israeli – have been reported killed in the Israeli-Hamas war, as well as 166 journalists and media workers, 120 academics and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes179 employees of UNRWA.’

HUMAN CAPITAL

Of the Palestinians killed 70 per cent were women and children. Notwithstanding, a significant portion of their human capital has been systematically removed from the accessible workforce. On January 19, a ceasefire agreement saw the end of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, to be followed by the withdrawal of Israeli troops, release of prisoners/hostages and the commencement of the reconstruction of the Gaza over the next three to five years.

Gaza was razed to the ground. Its hospitals, education facilities, health services, road networks, residences, businesses, utilities, and other physical infrastructure needed to effectively govern, have been destroyed by deliberate acts on the part of the Israelis. Its people as well as the children that have survived the Israeli atrocities, have been psychologically destroyed. The unborn will automatically become products of the environment that will reflect the history of their parents and their struggles, fuelling the cycle of revenge. So, although there is a ceasefire today, it’s at best ‘the calm before the next storm’.

The Gaza rebuild will have enormous problems. It’s not likely to have the support of its neighbour Israel who are still bent on their destruction. The aid to be provided is more likely to be in keeping with modern-day foreign policies, i.e., the countries providing the aid will also provide the companies to oversee the infrastructure rebuild, thereby keeping all the allocated funds at home and spending very little in-country.

ISRAELI ONSLAUGHT

Aid packages are likely to be announced by the USA, UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia and EU countries, all of which will be fighting to get as much of the ‘spoils’ as possible to boost their own economies and political designs. Gaza will not have the means to challenge the system for their ultimate benefit. They will be severely deficient in human capital for some time to come, thanks again to horrors suffered under the Israeli onslaught.

Addressing the needs of a traumatised nation is a huge undertaking. This will prove difficult because those who will be providing the ‘solutions’ are the very same ones that have never understood the culture or inherent problems of the region, not even when they were the colonisers. In fact, had there been an understanding then, the conflicts of the region would not have materialised. One can conclude that the efforts at rebuilding are likely to be weighted towards greater control by the powerful rather than the upliftment of the previously oppressed. If the Israeli government continues its policy of annihilation of Hamas, meaning Palestine, while having the support of developed states such as the US, UK, EU, Canada, etc., the tension in the region will continue and there will be more upheavals to come down the road.

Gaza and the greater Palestinian population will remain an unsettled area and people for generations to come and this will apply equally as well to Israel. Creating a Palestinian state which is something accepted by most countries, is likely to remain the proverbial pipedream unless the global powers put aside self-interests and see to its implementation.

In the present context of tensions across the Middle East, the only winner will be a lasting peace throughout the region, created by those within the region. Anything else is merely a ‘band-aid.’