Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas: What is left of Gaza and its people? | News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas is set to take effect on Sunday, January 19, after an agreement was announced on Wednesday to end Israel’s devastating 15-month offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The three-phase the agreement includes a temporary ceasefire, the release of Israeli prisoners and Palestinian prisoners, and the return of displaced Palestinians, although many homes in Gaza have been destroyed.

So why are the Palestinians returning to Gaza?

What is left of the population of Gaza?

As of October 7, 2023, Israel is killed at least 46,707 Palestinians and 110,265 injured – an average of 100 Palestinians killed every day for the past 467 days.

Gaza has an estimated population of 2.3 million, half of whom are children. Since the beginning of the war, that number of inhabitants has decreased by six percent.

Over the past 15 months, Israeli attacks have killed two out of every 100 people in Gaza and wounded five out of every 100. Some 11,160 people have gone missing, meaning one out of every 200 Palestinians in Gaza has disappeared – many buried under more than 42 million tons of rubble. And 100,000 Palestinians left Gaza.

Some 9 out of 10 Gazans are displaced – and many of them have had to move multiple times since the start of the war.

But what do exiles have to return to?

According to an analysis by American researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek and Corey Scher, in total at least 60 percent of all buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed.

About 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, making it one of the largest on record in modern conflicts, and for many, their settlements have been completely uprooted, including basic services such as hospitals and educational institutions. This is not to mention the collapse of vital infrastructure such as sanitation systems and electricity services.

Some experts estimate that it will take at least a decade to remove the 42 million tons of rubble in Gaza.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of January 14, half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional, 88 percent of schools have been damaged or destroyed, 92 percent of homes have been damaged or destroyed, and 68 percent of agricultural land has been destroyed as and 68 percent of all roads.

How quickly was Gaza destroyed?

Israel carried out airstrikes on Gaza hours after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. Israel began its ground invasion of the northern Gaza enclave, focusing on densely populated areas such as Beit Hanoon and Jabalia.

In the first month of the war, 15 percent of all buildings were damaged or destroyed, with 34 percent and 31 percent of buildings in North Gaza and Gaza City damaged or destroyed by November 10, respectively.

By January 5, three months into the continuous bombardment of Gaza, nearly half (44 percent) of Gaza’s buildings had been damaged or destroyed. Most of the damage was concentrated in the north, as by then about 70 percent of northern Gaza and Gaza City had been destroyed.

Medical facilities were attacked by Israeli bombardment and ground invasion, with hospitals such as al-Shifa in Gaza City surrounded by the Israeli army and cut off from people in need of emergency medicine and treatment.

Fifteen months after Israeli airstrikes, Gaza is a shell of what it used to be. It is estimated that almost 60 percent of all buildings were damaged or destroyed, with the hardest hit governorate being Gaza City, where 74 percent of buildings were destroyed.

What is left of the schools in Gaza?

By August 2024, more than 625,000 school-age children in Gaza had spent an entire year without formal education.

The education system in Gaza lies in ruins after the Israeli aerial bombardment. Many of the schools that still exist are being used as makeshift shelters for displaced families, which further cripples their ability to function as educational institutions. About 88 percent of schools or 496 out of 564 were damaged or destroyed. According to OCHA, at least 503 educational staff were killed and all university buildings in Gaza were destroyed.

Without infrastructure, staff or supplies, the education system in Gaza has effectively collapsed, begging the question of how it will rebuild and function again.

What is left of the homes in Gaza?

Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, leaving millions of people dependent on humanitarian aid for shelter and survival. This massive displacement and destruction of infrastructure underscores the enormous challenges Gaza faces in rebuilding, raising pressing questions about the future of its people and the possibility of any semblance of normalcy returning to their lives.

About 92 percent (436,000) of housing units were destroyed or damaged, along with 80 percent of commercial buildings. On top of that, nine out of every 10 Palestinians in Gaza are displaced.

What is left of the hospitals in Gaza?

Hospitals in Gaza are on the verge of collapse as they have been repeatedly attacked and denied basic supplies, despite express protection under humanitarian law.

As a result, many much-needed hospitals in Gaza are out of service; only half of them are even partially functional, including only one in the entire North Gaza governorate.

In January, Gaza health officials he said Al-Aqsa, Nasser and European hospitals are at risk of imminent closure, following repeated Israeli bombing and blockade of supplies.

Rebuilding Gaza’s hospitals after the ceasefire would require a huge effort, given that restoring electricity and clean water is crucial. In some cases, hospitals will need to be completely rebuilt, while providing basic medical supplies and specialized equipment – something Israel cut off during the war – will be imperative.

What is left of agriculture in Gaza?

It is estimated that 68 percent of the total agricultural land has now been destroyed. Sentinel-2 satellite images recorded a significant reduction in the area under crops, with Northern Gaza suffering the greatest share of damage across the province, with more than three-quarters of agricultural land destroyed.

In addition, much of the region’s livestock has been killed and irrigation systems and other agricultural equipment destroyed, making recovery challenging. The ground should first be cleared of debris and unexploded ordnance and then treated for decontamination.

Rebuilding the agricultural center in Gaza will require significant financial assistance from international organizations.

What is left of the roads in Gaza?

According to UNOSAT data from August 2024, approximately 1,190 km (740 mi) of roads were destroyed in Gaza, while 415 km (258 mi) were severely affected and 1,440 km (895 mi) were moderately damaged. This amounts to about 65 percent of the total road network in the enclave.