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The guns may have quieted but Gaza today lies in ruins far beyond what many dared to imagine. What Israel’s military aggression and systematic destruction have inflicted on the Strip over more than two years is a catastrophe of an order that the world is only now beginning to grasp. As international media, aid organizations and observers will finally gain fuller access to Gaza, the grim truth will soon become visible: this is not a war zone in need of a ceasefire alone but a landscape of devastation demanding justice, reconstruction and a fundamental rethinking of what “peace” must mean.
Ending military operations is only the very first step. Peace and stability demand more than the cessation of bombs and bullets — they require that what Gazans endured not only be acknowledged but never allowed to recur. Reparations, meaningful accountability and a comprehensive reconstruction process must be front and center in any agreement. Without them, Gaza will remain a shell of suffering, an open wound in the conscience of humanity.
The consequences of the Israeli campaign are staggering. According to Gaza authorities, well over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, thousands more remain missing and more than 20,000 children are estimated to have died. The destruction of infrastructure is near-total: more than 90 percent of roads damaged, hospitals, schools and water systems shattered, and entire neighborhoods erased.
International agencies estimate, optimistically, that rebuilding Gaza will cost as much as $40 billion and take at least a decade. Many neighborhoods are still covered in rubble, soaked with contaminants and littered with unexploded ordnance. Survivors return only to find nothing left: no walls, no roofs, no safe passage.
Reparations, meaningful accountability and a comprehensive reconstruction process must be front and center
Hani Hazaimeh
This is the world that now confronts Gaza’s survivors. The shock is finally arriving. Satellite images that once looked like abstract devastation now show human stories of loss: broken homes, collapsed hospitals, flattened marketplaces. Photographs of children with distended bellies, of families sifting through ruins for any salvageable remnant, of entire families buried beneath debris — these were always real, now they are undeniable.
But the true measure of justice will be whether the world acts on what it now sees. A ceasefire or truce does not erase the duty to repair. To stand with Gaza today is no longer a symbolic moral gesture. It is an urgent demand: ensure the Gazans’ grief is not recycled into another round of destruction.
First, full accountability must proceed — without exception. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must not be lionized for supposedly “agreeing” to a peace plan; rather, he should be recognized as an accused war criminal facing scrutiny. The International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants against both Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for crimes including using starvation as a weapon of war, targeting civilians and persecution. These warrants demand follow-through. Political immunity and diplomatic protection should not shield him.
Netanyahu must not be rewarded for complying with pressure. He should be prosecuted, not celebrated. When global leaders congratulate an offender rather than demand accountability, they signal that genocide and mass atrocity have a path to respectability.
Second, reparations must be substantial and binding. Under international law, victims of gross human rights violations are entitled to effective remedies: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of nonrepetition. No half-measures or symbolic compensation suffice after the scale of suffering Gaza has endured. Reconstruction must restore infrastructure, rebuild homes, restore utilities, provide healthcare and psychological support, and enable sustainable livelihood.
Netanyahu must not be rewarded for complying with pressure. He should be prosecuted, not celebrated
Hani Hazaimeh
Third, the rebuilding process must be transparent and inclusive. Gaza’s people — not distant bureaucrats — should guide the decisions about how their homes and cities are rebuilt. Arab states, international donors, the UN and civil society must adopt oversight mechanisms to ensure that funds reach the intended beneficiaries and are not diverted through patronage or corruption. The reconstruction cannot be a reoccupation by foreign agendas; it must be a national revival.
Fourth, guarantees must be made that this devastation will never occur again. Ceasefire agreements must include binding clauses against siege, starvation tactics, forced displacement and disproportionate use of force. The rules of engagement must respect civilian life and civilian objects unequivocally. To tolerate future violations is to give them license.
Fifth, memory matters: Gaza needs truth commissions, memorialization and a framework for justice that does not allow the atrocities to be forgotten or dismissed. Every homicide, disappearance and destroyed building must be documented — not quietly buried in UN reports or forgotten in media cycles. An international commission should be given unrestricted access and authority to investigate, exhume mass graves, identify victims and recommend prosecutions. The world must not repeat the familiar script of silence after a massacre.
To those who say postwar governance must be practical and cautious, I say: there is no peace without justice. There is no stability without trust. And there is no honoring of Gaza’s dead without recognition of their rights. Every delay in repair or accountability is a betrayal.
Yes, the road ahead is long. But let this moment be a turning point. Gaza must be more than a casualty of war. It must become a testament to humanity’s capacity to rebuild from ruin. The world must rise to this test — not because of what Gaza is but because of what it demands of us.
And we must never forget: the war may be over but the obligation is unceasing.
- Hani Hazaimeh is a senior editor based in Amman. X: @hanihazaimeh