US urges Israel to lead Gaza debris-clearing effort: Report
ISTANBUL
The United States has urged Israel to take charge of clearing the extensive debris scattered throughout the Gaza Strip following more than two years of the war, including damage from airstrikes and armored bulldozers, according to Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth.
Citing a senior political source, the newspaper reported that Israel has tentatively agreed to the U.S. request but plans to start by removing rubble from a single pilot neighborhood in Rafah.
This initial undertaking is projected to cost anywhere from tens to hundreds of millions of shekels.
The report added that Washington anticipates Israel will eventually handle debris removal across the entire enclave, a process that could take years and exceed $1 billion in costs.
To date, neither Arab nations nor the international community have stepped in to fund the clearance operation.
Gaza is currently buried under approximately 68 million tons of rubble, The Wall Street Journal noted this week, highlighting the extensive destruction across the territory.
The U.N. Development Program estimates that the debris weighs the equivalent of roughly 186 Empire State Buildings.
The question of who will finance Gaza’s reconstruction after two years of war remains unresolved. Despite expectations that the Gulf states would shoulder the burden, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani made clear last week that Doha will not underwrite the rebuilding effort.
“We are not the ones who are going to write the check to rebuild what others destroyed,” Al Thani said in an onstage interview at the Doha Forum, the annual diplomatic gathering.
“When you are talking about Gaza, Israel flattened this land.”
According to a report by Ynet, U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack is set to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week in a bid to persuade Israel to allow Turkish troops into Gaza — a proposal Israel has firmly rejected.
A senior Israeli official told the outlet that Washington’s discussions with Jerusalem have increasingly centered on reconstruction rather than the disarmament of Hamas.
Winter storm chills Gaza, floods tent camps
On the ground, rains drenched Gaza’s tent camps and dropping temperatures chilled Palestinians huddling inside them as winter storm Byron descended on the war-battered territory.
Families found their possessions and food supplies soaked inside their tents. Children’s sandaled feet disappeared under opaque brown water that flooded the camps, running knee deep in some places.
“We have been drowned. I don’t have clothes to wear and we have no mattresses left,” said Um Salman Abu Qenas, a displaced mother in a Khan Younis tent camp. She said that her family couldn't sleep the night before, because of the water in the tent.
Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are getting into Gaza during the truce. Figures recently released by Israel's military suggest it hasn't met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.
“Cold, overcrowded, and unsanitary environments heighten the risk of illness and infection,” the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on X. “This suffering could be prevented by unhindered humanitarian aid, including medical support and proper shelter."