Urgent| The answer to a hidden question: Who will manage Gaza?

With an impending ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal to end 15 months of bloodshed in Gaza, the future of the devastated Palestinian enclave remains uncertain.

 

No agreement has been reached. Consensus on what will happen to the densely populated area once the ceasefire takes effect and who will take control of the Strip once the Israeli army finally withdraws.

 

On the cusp of reaching an agreement, there is no Still The situation is like this, a day after mediators in the Qatari capital announced that Hamas and Israel had agreed to a six-week ceasefire and the return of dozens of Israeli hostages.

 

Yossi Mekelberg says, He is a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, an influential British think tank: “No one looked at the next day. They talked about the next day, but they had no firm plans.”

Tommaso della Longa, a spokesman for The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies working in Israel and Gaza said that the announcement of a ceasefire was good news, but it was immediately followed by new acts of violence in Gaza.

 

He told "magazine" ;Newsweek' “The humanitarian situation is catastrophic, there is no ‘then’ agreement.” Everything is fine. Unfortunately, the matter is much more complicated than that.

 

Will the ceasefire agreement hold?

But the joy that followed reaching an agreement after arduous talks has been tempered Under the pressure of fears of the collapse of the three-stage agreement, especially after the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of disavowing parts of the agreement “to blackmail concessions at the moment.” The latter.

 

A senior Hamas official said that the movement remains “committed” With the agreement reached in Doha.

 

Israeli officials refused to comment on the "concessions" Which this statement referred to.

 

Netanyahu’s office said that the agreement would not be presented to the government for a vote without Hamas agreeing to the original terms.

Although the mediators They said that an agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas. Late on Wednesday, officials in the Strip said that dozens of people were killed in new Israeli raids.

 

Zaher al-Wahidi, head of the Gaza Strip, said that Registration Department of the Ministry of Health In Gaza, he told The Associated Press on Thursday that nearly half of those killed were women and children.

The Israeli military said Thursday afternoon that its air force had killed Muhammad Hashem Zahedi Abu al-Rus, whom Israel described as a special forces member. Hamas, which participated in the October 7 attacks that sparked the war in Gaza.

 

The IDF said in its statement on Thursday afternoon that it struck 50 targets in Gaza during the past 24 hours, or roughly when the deal was announced.

The first phase of the agreement, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday, includes a cessation of fighting for 42 days and the return of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for an unspecified number of prisoners. Palestinians returning from Israeli custody.

The mediators said that aid would flow into Gaza as residents return to what remains of their homes, and the Israeli army withdraws from major population centers.

Della Longa said that organizations Relief has been largely cut off from parts of Gaza, including the north, for weeks or months, and requires a rapid assessment of the situation and the logistics needed to deliver the supplies people desperately need. He said that from Sunday onwards he hopes to see a significant increase in aid deliveries and greater safety for humanitarian teams working in Gaza.

 

The mediators said the agreement includes ensuring that aid can arrive. To Gaza “on a large scale”, as well as bringing supplies to the displaced in Gaza and returning hospitals, health centers and bakeries to work.

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But as long as Hamas remains in power in Gaza, “Long-term international humanitarian aid and investment on the scale required to rebuild Gaza will not flow into the Strip,” said Burgu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow in Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). He is based in London.

Ozcelik told Newsweek: “This will come at a high price for Palestinian civilians who are in dire need of basic services, infrastructure and rehabilitation.”

 

Who will control Gaza?

 

He said that rebuilding will be a huge and expensive task, but the biggest question that remains open is who is the authority? Which will oversee the reconstruction.

For Israel, Hamas retaining control of the Strip is out of the question, but the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, which ran Gaza until Hamas took it over nearly two decades ago, is rare. What is seen as a viable option by the Israeli government, which rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state.

 

Mekelberg said that the Palestinian Authority must undergo reform if the Gaza Strip is to be established. Gaza is to be governed by Palestinians.

 Mickelberg added in a statement to Newsweek magazine: “The Palestinian Authority in its current state is not fit for the purpose for which it was established.”

Others believe that the ruling power in Gaza It may be determined by how the negotiations between Israel and its neighbors proceed.

 Flor Hassan Nahoum, former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, said that the matter depends on How it works  Normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries brokered by incoming US President Donald Trump during his first term are in the future.

She told Newsweek, "If we can do some kind of regional arrangement where Gaza is in some way under the auspices of one of these… Very prosperous Sunni states – which not only have the resources, but have the experience in eliminating Islamic fundamentalism, and can build very quickly… This would be a really wonderful scenario.”

The second and third phases of the ceasefire agreement remain The prisoners’ agreement is also ambiguous, which makes predicting Gaza’s future more difficult.

Ozcelik added that the Hamas fighters’ celebration 

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