It\u2019s been seven months since US President Donald Trump announced the Gaza ceasefire. The truce was to begin the area\u2019s rehabilitation following two years of Israeli strikes that killed tens of thousands of people and reduced vast sections to rubble. But with the wars in Iran and Lebanon shifting the focus away from Gaza, it\u2019s been sinking deeper into misery. Hamas, the Iran-backed militant group which rules over the inhabited areas, isn\u2019t disarming, Israel is stepping up air strikes, and hundreds have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect.<\/p>\n
Spokespersons for the Israeli military and the Board of Peace, the international group charged with implementing Trump\u2019s plan, declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Smotrich, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s security cabinet, said Hamas\u2019 ability to re-arm is severely limited, but the group must be defeated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shall have to decide at what moment we\u2019ll go back to fighting in Gaza, and in what configuration,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s clear is that we need to end this war without there being a Hamas in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel is weighing further air strikes to keep Hamas from rebuilding, a senior aide to Netanyahu said, asking not to be identified by name because of the sensitivity of the matter. That would likely entail district-by-district attacks on remaining Hamas bastions, they said.<\/p>\n
Last month was the deadliest since the start of the year, with 140 fatalities related to Israeli violence reported despite the ceasefire, independent conflict monitor ACLED said, estimating Israel\u2019s control of Gazan territory at about 58%. \u201cMost of the attacks took place west of the Yellow Line,\u201d said Nasser Khdour, Middle East Assistant Research Manager at the organization.<\/p>\n
Post-ceasefire plans remain at an impasse. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and many others, has refused to disarm and says Israel violated the terms of the deal.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the deal, Israel is meant to withdraw from Gaza in stages, linked to Hamas demilitarizing and agreeing to give up governance of any part of the Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cFailure to comply with the details of the first phase is what prevents moving to the second,\u201d Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. He said more than 850 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be no reconstruction of Gaza without a decommissioning of weapons,\u201d Nickolay Mladenov, the lead envoy for Trump\u2019s Board of Peace, said in an interview with Tel Aviv-based i24News this week.<\/p>\n
More than 80% of displacement camps, where the majority of Gazans live, have reported rodents or pests being frequently present, along with skin infections such as scabies, lice and bed bugs, the United Nations said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey live in tents amidst the rubble, dependent on humanitarian assistance for the most basic of their needs\u201d, said Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, a representative for the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n
Gaza needs an estimated $71.4 billion over the next decade to rebuild, according to a study by the European Union, United Nations and World Bank. More than a third will be required within the first 18 months to restore essential services and build critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n
One night last month, the family of Yousef al-Ostaz woke up to the screams of their month-old son. With no electricity, they shone their phone lights on him and saw his face covered in blood. He\u2019d been bitten by a rat. He\u2019s improving after spending 10 days in the hospital, but the family says creams and medicine are expensive.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military branch overseeing civilian needs in Gaza says it\u2019s working to improve sanitation and the flow of goods to the strip. Pesticides for rodent and rat control, as well as medical equipment, have been delivered to the strip, according to posts on X.<\/p>\n
Restrictions on essential medicines and supplies must be removed, Van de Weerdt said. \u201cThings need to change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been seven months since US President Donald Trump announced the Gaza ceasefire. The truce was to begin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[36450,21522,5084,37,498,36451,201,81,5485,3351,23965],"class_list":{"0":"post-105261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-emigration-and-immigration","9":"tag-gaza-city","10":"tag-horizontal","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-palestine","13":"tag-palestinian-people","14":"tag-photography","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-politics-and-government","17":"tag-refugee","18":"tag-refugee-camp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116544940576564402","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}