Despite the truce, the fate of the Gaza Strip is uncertain and has challenges

Hamas has been significantly weakened by the conflict with Israel, which refuses to leave the territory without security guarantees.

Challenges

Even before the conflict, the Gaza Strip was punished by an Israeli blockade imposed in 2006, poverty and high unemployment. The UN estimates that reconstruction of the territory, which had more than half of its infrastructure destroyed, will take 15 years and cost up to US$50 billion (around R$300 billion).

Basic infrastructure, including the water distribution network, suffered extensive damage. Almost the entire population of 2.4 million people has had to move at least once because of bombings and fighting, according to the UN.

Most children have been out of school for more than a year and few hospitals remain open.

If the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, had to take control of the situation, it would depend on external donors, Guignard points out. “Reconstruction plans often depend on Gulf monarchies, particularly Saudi Arabia. But these nations increasingly insist that the era of unconditional financing is over.”