Israel-Hamas war: UN says Gaza rebuild could take decades

CIA Director William Burns arrived in Cairo for the talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in Gaza, Egyptian security sources told Reuters and the Associated Press on Friday. 

The CIA declined to comment.

Burns and Egyptian officials were expected to meet with a Hamas delegation on Saturday to discuss the latest truce proposal.

"We are determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfills Palestinians' demands," Hamas, designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union and others, said in a statement. 

The United States, Egypt, and Qatar are mediating the talks between Israel and Hamas and have been waiting for the Palestinian militant group's response to a proposal to halt the fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Egyptian sources say both sides have made some concessions recently, leading to progress in the talks.

Five Israeli human rights groups said it was "incomprehensible" for the Israeli government to claim that it had met its obligations to increase the flow of aid in Gaza. 

Gisha and four other organizations petitioned the Supreme Court of Israel to demand that the government specify what measures the executive branch is taking to step up aid deliveries to the Palestinian territory.

After an initial hearing in April, the court asked the Israeli government to answer follow-up questions before a fresh hearing scheduled for Sunday.

In a second update provided to the court this week, the government maintained it was going "above and beyond" its obligations in facilitating the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip.

The five rights groups rejected the Israeli government's position on a Friday in a letter published by Gisha.

"It is inconceivable that the respondents, who admit to not having even the faintest idea about the extent of the aid required for residents of the Gaza Strip, are claiming that they have fulfilled their obligations — and even beyond," the groups said.

They said the shortages evident inside Gaza indicated "that the respondents are not meeting their obligations, not to the required extent nor at the necessary speed."

According to the Israeli Defense Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, more than 6,000 trucks entered the besieged territory last month. It described the deliveries as "a great surge in the amount of humanitarian aid going into Gaza."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended his decision to ban all remaining trade with Israel in speeches to business leaders in Istanbul and Ankara.

"We have taken some measures to force Israel to agree to a cease-fire and increase the amount of humanitarian aid to enter" Gaza, Erdogan said.

"We will oversee the consequences of this step we have taken in coordination and consultation with our business world."

Erdogan said he was aware of "how the West will attack us" but said he hoped the move would serve as an example to other countries that are "uncomfortable with the current situation."

"We have a single goal here: to force the Netanyahu leadership, which has gotten out of control with the West's unconditional military and diplomatic support, to a cease-fire," he added.

Turkey announced on Thursday that it was suspending all trade with Israel, valued by the government at $9.5 billion (€8.8 billion) a year.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed the move, accusing Erdogan of behaving like a dictator. He said the Turkish president "wants to harm Israel" with the ban "but will primarily harm the Palestinian economy."

The US military says bad weather has forced it to temporarily pause the offshore construction of a pier intended to facilitate the delivery of aid into Gaza.

Construction will now be completed on land at the Israeli port of Ashdod, a statement from US Central Command said on Friday.

"Forecasted high winds and high sea swells caused unsafe conditions for soldiers working on the surface of the partially constructed pier," the statement said.

"The partially built pier and military vessels involved in its construction have moved to the Port of Ashdod, where assembly will continue, and will be completed prior to the emplacement of the pier in its intended location when sea states subside."

US President Joe Biden, under pressure to do more to ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza, announced the $320 million (€297 million) pier project in early March. 

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said about 50% of the structure had been built so far.

The United Nations and aid agencies have warned that a lack of basic supplies is pushing Gaza's population to the brink of famine.

Around 300 people attended a pro-Palestinian rally at Berlin's Humboldt University on Friday, according to police, following dozens of campus protests popping up around the United States and globally.

Protesters chanted slogans like "Viva Palestina" (long live Palestine) and held signs including one that read: "From the Spree to overseas, the people will rise in solidarity," referring to the Spree River that runs through the German capital.

According to a social media post by the Student Coalition Berlin, the protesters demanded an academic boycott of Israeli universities and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Police said protesters blocked the entrance to the university and refused to move to another location that had been suggested. They said a few dozen students also staged a sit-in in the university's inner courtyard.

The president of the university, Julia von Blumenthal, was on site to attempt to engage in dialogue with the protesters.

She offered for the university to host a panel discussion if the protest ended peacefully.

However, police said on social media that after protesters made "inflammatory cries," they had to take some of them to police vans to check their identification, sometimes using force.

The incident comes after Berlin police shut down a three-day pro-Palestinian conference in April and cleared a pro-Palestinian protest camp that had been set up in front of the parliament building.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen have vowed to attack any ships within reach that are bound for Israel.

"We will target any ships heading to Israeli ports in the Mediterranean Sea in any area we are able to reach," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Friday.

The Iranian-backed militia has repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November, which it says is retaliation for Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

The Houthi campaign has forced shipping companies to reroute their cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa. It has also prompted US and British reprisal attacks, and the formation of an international naval coalition to protect the trade route.

The Houthis said on Friday that they plan to expand their attacks in case Israel begins "an aggressive military operation against Rafah" in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The UK has announced fresh sanctions against "extremist" groups and individuals that it says are responsible for violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"Extremist settlers are undermining security and stability and threatening prospects for peace," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Friday.

"This latest package of sanctions targets two groups leading these attacks and four individuals who are directly responsible for egregious violence against Palestinian civilians," he added.

The two groups are Hilltop Youth and Lehava.

The ministry identified the four individuals as "radical settler activist" Noam Federman; Neria Ben Pazi, who the ministry said was responsible for "illegally constructing three illegal outposts" since 2023; Eden Levi, who the ministry accused of taking part in "assaults and intimidation of Palestinians as part of a wider intimidation campaign to drive their population out of the area;" and Elisha Yered, accused of "inciting religious hatred and violence."

The sanctions will take the form of asset freezes and travel bans.

"The Israeli authorities must clamp down on those responsible. The UK will not hesitate to take further action if needed, including through further sanctions," Cameron added. 

The WHO said Friday that the availability of food in the Gaza Strip has improved "a little bit" but warned that there is still an acute risk of famine.

Compared to a few months ago, "definitely there is more basic food, more wheat, but also a little bit more diversified food on the market. Not just in the south … also in the north," said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the Palestinian territories.

He added that local food production, such as fruit, vegetables and fish in the Gaza Strip had been "destroyed" by the war.

The threat of famine had "absolutely not" gone away due to the slight improvement in the food situation, Peeperkorn said.

In March, the UN said people in the north of Gaza were "experiencing shocking levels of disease and hunger." Aid deliveries moving from south to north are also complicated by Israeli military checkpoints.

Ahmed Dahir, the WHO's Gaza sub-office team lead, added on Friday that in the last few weeks, there is "more food coming, and going to the north."

Paris police entered the Sciences Po university and removed dozens of students who were staging a pro-Gaza sit-in blocking the entrance hall in the main building. 

One student told French news agency AFP that "around 50" students were still inside the building when police arrived. 

Sciences Po's main buildings were closed on Friday in response to the sit-in, and remote classes were held instead.

There were no signs of violence reported between police and demonstrators.

Sciences Po is considered a top political science university in France, and alumni include French President Emmanuel Macron. 

The university's campuses across France have been the center of student protests against the war in Gaza, but on a smaller scale than the pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses in the United States this week.

Large protests at universities in New York and Los Angeles at times saw clashes between police and demonstrators, as well as mass arrests. 

A World Health Organization official said the agency has a contingency plan in place in case of an Israeli offensive in Rafah but warned it would not be enough to prevent a massive rise in civilian deaths.

"I want to really say that this contingency plan is a band-aid," Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, told a press briefing by video link from Geneva on Friday.

"It will absolutely not prevent the expected substantial additional mortality and morbidity posed by a military operation," he added.

More than 1 million displaced people are sheltering in Rafah. On Gaza's southern border with Egypt, the city is home to the Rafah border crossing, which is a critical staging point for aid deliveries into the rest of the enclave.

Despite international outcry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's military will attack the city to destroy the final Hamas battalions reportedly based there.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, said Friday that a military operation in Rafah could be a "slaughter of civilians and an incredible blow to the humanitarian operation in the entire strip because it is run primarily out of Rafah." 

Laerke added that aid operations run from Rafah include medical clinics and food distribution points.

Israel's Hostages Families Forum on Friday confirmed the death of a 49-year-old man who was killed on October 7 in the Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the communities hardest hit by Hamas terror attacks.

The man's body was taken to Gaza after he was killed. He had been listed as a hostage. His wife was also killed in the Hamas assault on the kibbutz. Two of the couple's children were abducted and taken to Gaza.

The two children were freed in November as part of a temporary truce deal between Israel and Hamas, during which 105 civilians were freed from Hamas captivity.

The couple's older third child was not at the kibbutz during the attack.

The Israeli government wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the man has been "confirmed as murdered and his body is being held in Gaza."

The government did not say how it confirmed his death. The Times of Israel reported that such announcements usually come after the Israeli military "obtains additional forensics leading to the determination of a hostage's death."

Around 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 terror attacks on southern Israel, and more than 250 were taken hostage. It is estimated that 129 hostages remain held in Gaza, with not all of them believed to be alive.

The announcement comes as another truce and hostage deal is being negotiated, with mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt awaiting Hamas's response to a new Israeli proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release.

Hamas is designated as a terror organization by Israel, the US, Germany and other governments.

A report released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that fully rebuilding Gaza could take decades.

"The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented... this is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since World War II," Abdallah al-Dardari, the UNDP's Regional Director for Arab States told a briefing in Jordan.

In the best-case scenario, in which the war would end today and construction materials would be delivered five times as fast as following the last crisis in 2021, rebuilding efforts could be completed by 2040.

However, assuming the pace of reconstruction follows the trend of several previous Gaza conflicts, the UNDP report said it would take "approximately 80 years to restore all the fully destroyed housing units."

At least 370,000 housing units in Gaza have been damaged, including 79,000 that have been destroyed completely, the report said.

In 2014, after 51 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas, there were 2.4 million tons of debris in Gaza, Al Dardari said.

In the current conflict, there are already 37 million tons of debris that need to be cleared to make space for temporary shelters and other structures, he added.

The rough estimate for the cost of the overall reconstruction of Gaza is between $40 billion and $50 billion, he said.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas after the militant group carried out terror attacks that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7. Since then, more than 34,000 people in Gaza have been killed in the retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.

wmr/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)