Khaled Abu Jarrar, a resident of Gaza City, spends his days trying to find treatment for his wife’s recently discovered liver cancer.
The 58-year-old, who was previously displaced with his family in Gaza City for the past year and a half, is aware that his wife needs to travel abroad urgently.
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He is desperate for the opening of the Rafah crossing, which was formerly the Gaza Strip’s principal gateway to the outside world.
More than 70, 000 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s genocidal war, which Israel has been keeping firmly shut for the past two years.
Khaled wants to change things with Gaza’s new administration, which is a group of Palestinian technocrats under the control of the so-called “board of peace” under the auspices of Donald Trump.
In Cairo, Egypt’s capital, the National Committee for Gaza Management (NGAC) convened for the first time last week. In the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, it will oversee Gaza’s day-to-day affairs in place of Hamas, a Palestinian organization.
The second phase of the US project had just begun last week, according to the US.
Khaled now wants to see tangible outcomes from the NGAC and the second phase, which will begin with the Rafah crossing’s opening. He has some skepticism.
Khaled expressed his hope that the committee has real authority, not just words on paper. Otherwise, the committee will be a failure.
It is understandable why he pessimizes. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire started, and more than 400 have been killed in Gaza.
It also makes no effort to improve Gaza’s quality of life and has made clear that it opposes the NGAC. Israel’s most recent action has been to require the closure of international humanitarian organizations in Gaza that provide essential medical care and food aid.
As Khaled observed the news of the NGAC from a shelter located in the western Gaza City building, “on the ground, the shelling never stops,” he said.
“In the media, they talk about reconstruction and withdrawals, but the bombing continues from the north and the south, making things look even more complicated,” they said.
Waiting for solutions
Khaled’s routines for living in government buildings are not uncommon. In the former administration of Gaza, where thousands of displaced people have sought refuge, or in buildings that at least partially survived Israel’s attack.
This reality highlights the challenge facing any administration and the NGAC when attempting to govern Gaza.
And it relies on a number of straightforward questions for the displaced: Will the technocrats be able to overthrow Israel’s restrictions on Gaza? Will they be able to make real, tangible changes to Palestinians’ lives when they are displaced and lost?
The committee is portrayed as a politically “neutral” framework made up of non-factional figures with technical and administrative expertise. Former deputy minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA) will lead it, according to Ali Shaath.
However, many Palestinians think that their ability to survive in an environment that Israel still controls and refuses to allow to rebuild is more important than its composition.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent remarks, which he called “symbolic,” provided evidence that Israel has no desire to cooperate, were used by Palestinian political analyst Ahed Farwana as evidence.
According to Farwana, “the committee’s future is uncertain because it depends on serious implementation of the second phase’s obligations.”
Many of Israel’s obligations under the first phase of the ceasefire, including stopping attacks, allowing Israel to completely leave a particular region of Gaza, and opening the Rafah crossing, have not been fulfilled.
Farwana thinks that Netanyahu does not want to pay Israel the price for allowing the ceasefire to advance and declare the war’s complete end, especially since he will be running for office in a few weeks.
Farwana makes the false claim that Israel will continue to violate the ceasefire and expand its buffer zone, while making up justifications like the fact that one body from Gaza is still missing. Because of the amount of rubble left behind by Israeli attacks, Hamas claims it is unable to reach the body.
According to Farwana, “the second phase of the ceasefire will be real change and implementation of the second phase if there is real American pressure,” arguing that the administration’s pushes were largely responsible for the ceasefire’s partial success. However, Netanyahu’s choice to leave the field will not lead to success.
restrictions placed by Israel
Israeli officials dispute the existence of restrictions on the flow of aid into Gaza. International organizations and neighborhood Palestinians raise the issue of delayed permit approvals and drawn-out inspections, which slow access to and stymie the entry of goods Gaza desperately needs, including heavy materials for infrastructure and non-food items.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is still dire, and a large portion of agreed-upon aid has not yet been poured into since the ceasefire’s implementation, according to the UN and aid organizations who have repeatedly called for the opening of crossings and the facilitation of aid entry.
In particular, Gaza is largely dependent on other entry points, including Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom), which are subject to stringent inspection standards and complete Israeli security control as a result of the ongoing closure of the Rafah crossing.
Any committee’s ability to operate within restrictions on the movement of materials is directly related to the new administration of Gaza, making the discussions about the new administration’s structure more complex.
Asmaa Manoun is eagerly awaiting an improvement.
The mother of five, who is 45 years old, was born in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza when one of her children died during the conflict.
In a partially destroyed building in Gaza City, she and her husband Mohammad, who was hurt during the war, now reside in a stairwell. They are hardly sheltered by a straightforward tarpaulin.
That is why Asmaa initially did not hear about the NGAC’s formation or talk of the start of the second phase of the ceasefire.
My phone isn’t charged and the internet isn’t accessible, she said the majority of the time. In the camp, “we typically hear things from people, and discussions break out between them.”
In an effort to return home, Asmaa had initially moved to Jabalia from southern Gaza, where she had been living in displaced. However, the experiment was put an end to by constant Israeli shelling and gunfire, including one that she claimed claimed killed a woman sleeping in a tent next to her.
Asmaa spoke while Mohammad, 49, sat next to her. After the chaos it had been through, his goal for the new committee was simple: organize aid entry and distribution, and oversee Gaza.
We hear a lot, he said, but in reality, we haven’t changed in two years.
Source: Aljazeera
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