Gaza teeters on the edge of survival, with millions displaced and its landscape reduced to rubble as Israel's relentless offensive continues. Amid growing global outrage and legal battles, one urgent question emerges: can the international community unite to provide hope and healing, or will the cries for help be drowned out by the echoes of devastation and the weight of the rubble?

Palestinians are in a desperate struggle for survival as Israel continues to pursue its horrific war in Gaza. Despite growing condemnation from a worried world, even from Israel’s traditional allies, a genocide case launched against them in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and accusations of war crimes against its leaders in the International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel, under its hard-line Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, continues on its path to annihilate Gaza. It seems as nothing or as if nobody can successfully intervene to turn Israel away from the total destruction of Gaza and the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Much of Gaza has already been reduced to a wasteland where 1.9 million displaced people try to survive in tents, camps, and damaged buildings, with no electricity, running water or toilets, barely enough food for survival, and no health facilities. Winter is almost here and the weather will turn cold and wet. Some poor souls will freeze to death. The environment is a toxic health hazard with diseases escalating due to extreme exposure to the elements, poisonous air, putrid water and sewerage running through the streets. More than 42,000 people have died in one year and more will be lost to the continued bombing, disease and starvation, as the war drags on. 
According to United Nations (UN) satellite data, two-thirds of Gaza's pre-war structures—over 163,000 buildings, including houses, apartment buildings, mosques, schools, offices, shops, public buildings, and hospitals—lie in ruins. The UN estimates there are over 42 million tonnes of debris in Gaza. Beneath the rubble lie the bodies of at least 10,000 Palestinians.
The UN has estimated that the existing rubble is 14 times the amount of debris accumulated in Gaza between 2008 and the war's start a year ago, and over five times the amount left by the 2016-17 Battle of Mosul in Iraq. As Israel continues to bomb Gaza, the amount of debris continues to grow. The UN estimates it will cost at least USD 700 million to remove the existing rubble and the process will take years. One can only imagine what the outcome will be if the war continues much longer. Given that Israel is now also bombing Lebanon, the chaos is spreading and may escalate in the Middle East. 

Much of Gaza has already been reduced to a wasteland where 1.9 million displaced people try to survive in tents, camps, and damaged buildings, with no electricity, running water or toilets, barely enough food for survival, and no health facilities.

Removing the 42 million tons of existing debris will be perilous as unexploded ordinance poses a high risk to workers. In October, the UN-led Debris Management Working Group announced that it plans a pilot project with Palestinian authorities in Khan Younis and the central Gazan city of Deir El-Balah to start clearing roadside debris. Reuters and other news outlets reported that the Gaza Office Head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Alessandro Mrakic, was reported as saying "The challenges are huge.” Mr. Mrakic said, “It's going to be a massive operation, but at the same time, it's important that we start now." 
However, dumping or recycling the rubble requires funding from donors for equipment including industrial crushers, and to pay experts and workers. It also requires space. The UN estimates about five square kilometres (about two square miles) of land would be needed, land which will be hard to find, given Gaza’s small and densely populated territory. 
Most of the debris will need to be removed from Gaza to be crushed and recycled for other purposes. However, the existing landfills are in an Israeli military zone. Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has said although they were in a restricted area, access would be granted. COGAT has also said it aimed to improve waste handling and would work with the UN to expand those efforts. As on October 7, 2024, detailed discussions on future plans were yet to take place. Given Israel’s inability to cooperate or honour its promises, there is no surety on if, and when, this will happen. Movement of sufficient life-saving aid into Gaza through the crossing points hasn’t happened despite Israel’s promises to the international community. The aid situation is dire.
There is another deadly risk to the workers clearing the rubble. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has reported that a significant portion of the debris is contaminated with asbestos—a mineral known to cause lung diseases, including cancer—and other harmful substances. The dust enveloping Gaza from these contaminants is already contributing to the massive health crisis for the people trying to survive amongst the ruins. 
Communicable diseases are on the rise, due to water scarcity, and what is left of the healthcare system is on the brink of total collapse. Reports indicate that in some of the most overcrowded shelters, there is only one toilet per 600 people and little to no running water. These are just a few of the conditions that pose a ‘perfect storm’ for disease. Moving the rubble will stir up new challenges including relocating the people in camps and those sheltering in the mountains of rubble to yet another place, and containing the layers of pollution while solutions are found.
The aid situation has become so appalling that on October 13, 2024, a report from the BBC revealed that Israel’s staunchest ally, the U.S. had written to Israel, giving it 30 days to boost humanitarian aid access in Gaza or risk having some U.S. military assistance cut off. This is the strongest known written warning from the U.S. to its ally and comes amid a new Israeli offensive in northern Gaza that has reportedly caused a large number of civilian casualties. The BBC report said that the letter emphasised the deep concerns of the U.S. about the deteriorating humanitarian situation and that Israel denied or impeded nearly 90 percent of humanitarian movements between the north and south last month. An Israeli official told BBC that they have reviewed the letter and said, "the country takes this matter seriously" and intends to "address the concerns raised" with U.S. counterparts. Let us not hold our breath that it will make a difference. Israel has rebuffed previous pleas from allies to let aid through. The aid situation remains dire.
It is not just food and basic necessities that need to enter Gaza, it is also critical infrastructure and construction materials. Associated Press reported on October 7, that the international charity Oxfam had applied in December 2023 for a permit to bring in desalination units and pipes to repair water infrastructure. It took three months for Israel to approve the shipment, but Oxfam has said these materials have not yet entered Gaza. 
Meantime, the destruction of sewage networks has left the streets awash with putrid water, hastening the spread of disease. There has been no central electricity supply in Gaza since the war started when its sole power plant was forced to shut down for lack of fuel. According to the World Bank, more than half of the territory’s electrical grid has been destroyed. Fuel supplies and emergency repair materials cannot get through.  
Many are asking the big question “Can Gaza be rebuilt?” In reality, nobody can yet be sure. It will require billions of dollars—perhaps as much as USD 80 billion—which will have to come from international donors. It is impossible to accurately estimate this at present as it depends on too many variables. Wealthy Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) have said they are only willing to contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction as part of a postwar settlement that creates a path to a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled that out saying Israel will maintain open-ended security control and delegate civilian affairs to local Palestinians.
Once the rubble is removed, or at least underway, rebuilding Gaza would also require the import of massive amounts of construction supplies and heavy equipment. Israel is unlikely to allow this as they believe there is a potential for Hamas to rebuild its militant infrastructure. Gaza has only a small number of crossings with limited capacity. Even if Israel ultimately gives permission, bringing in massive amounts of construction materials to get started, any time soon seems a distant hope. Israel allowed some construction materials in before the war under what was known as the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, but it was subject to heavy restrictions and delays. 
For now, aid providers are struggling just to bring in enough basic tents because of the limited number of trucks going into Gaza and the challenges of delivering basic aid. In September, a Shelter Cluster report estimated almost a million people in Gaza were still in need of tents, bedding, and other items to prepare for the region’s typically cold and wet winters following the scorching summer. The report also noted, “Efforts to bring in more robust temporary housing are still in the early stages, and no one has even tried to bring in construction materials.”
There is no quick fix to removing the rubble and to start rebuilding. Firstly, the massive task of clearing the unexploded ordinances needs to start. UN demining experts have said that it could take as long as 15 years to do that. Thousands of bombs dropped on Gaza did not explode so it is a very dangerous task to find them among the rubble, defuse and remove them so debris can be cleared. The two activities will have to be well coordinated to ensure the safety of all. But it will be slow.
Perhaps the saddest and most grim task of all is delicately and respectfully removing the bodies and remains entombed within and providing a decent burial for the victims. Their families will never be at peace until that happens.
After the rubble is cleared, rebuilding can finally begin. The immediate focus will be on critical infrastructure including power facilities, desalination and water plants, hospitals and electricity being restored first. But housing cannot be left until last as people need to get out of the camps and into homes. There are many complexities to rebuilding homes as every owner must be involved. Deciding which homes will be rebuilt first, will be challenging for stakeholders.
A report by the joint Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and UNDP released in May 2024 estimated that it would take at least until 2040 to reconstruct Gaza’s housing units but many believe it will drag on for years beyond that. The same UNDP report notes that “the level of destruction of public infrastructure would require external assistance on a scale not seen since 1948.” However, as Israel’s destruction of Gaza continues, these numbers will increase. For now, nobody knows when rebuilding can start.
But until then, the world will be haunted by searing images from Gaza showing people and donkey carts trying to make their way through rubble-strewn areas in search of shelter and food. Just a year ago, these were bustling areas, their homes, shops and cafes, schools and public buildings. Now all that is left is chaos, death and despair. Towering piles of rubble, much of it balancing precariously at dangerous angles, surround them. Yet still people are sheltering in gaps in the mass of concrete and wire, having nowhere else to go. Many exist with the knowledge that family members lie beneath the remnants of their homes, their bodies unable to be extracted and given a decent burial. It is a nightmare scenario.
In recent weeks, Israel’s war has spread into Lebanon, firstly with a series of bizarre events. In September, pagers and walkie-talkie radios rigged with tiny amounts of explosives which, when triggered, exploded killing 32 people and injured thousands in their homes and public places. Israel alleged that the victims were Hezbollah commanders, a claim denied by leaders in Lebanon. These attacks were followed by airstrikes killing over 2,400 people as of October 17, 2024. The Lebanese Health Ministry has said that 1.34 million people are displaced and fleeing to safety, taking shelter where they can. Currently there are 1,059 government-assigned collective shelters in the country hosting over 188,146 people but they are already at capacity.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) confirms that high numbers of displaced are fleeing over the border into Syria. As of October 12, 283,000 people had already crossed the border, including Lebanese, Palestinians, and former Syrian refugees who had sought refuge in Lebanon from the conflict in Syria in the past. The influx into Syria which is already dealing with a long-term humanitarian crisis will create new challenges for the UN and others to provide new arrivals with shelter, food, and other assistance. All indications are that Israel is escalating its attacks in Lebanon and the trail of death and massive destruction will increase rapidly and create another monumental humanitarian catastrophe. As we see from the example of Gaza, that would be almost impossible to deal with. There will not be enough aid of any kind.  People in the region are living in fear, knowing that they could be the next victims of Israel’s aggression. Many are also asking, “Will Syria be next in Israel’s crosshairs?” That the Middle East is a tinder box is not a cliché. Israel has made it a reality.
On November 29, 2024, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, while millions of people around the world stand with the Palestinians in their struggle for survival, we should also remember the people of Lebanon and all who are suffering under the relentless attacks by Israel. Let us hope the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and all international stakeholders make greater efforts to bring all parties to the table to ensure not just a ceasefire, but an end to Israel’s war on humanity.

The writer is an Australian Disaster Management and Post-Conflict Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Advisor who lives in Islamabad. She consults for Government and UN agencies and has previously worked at both ERRA and NDMA. 
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