Gaza's Reconstruction: A Future Shrouded in Uncertainty

Fri Nov 07 2025 11:18:13 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

As Gaza begins its tentative recovery from conflict, differing visions for its reconstruction create divisions among its people and the international community.

In the wake of devastating conflicts, Gazans face the daunting task of rebuilding their homes and communities. Amid rubble and loss, multiple reconstruction plans emerge, including the locally developed Phoenix plan and the glitzy Gaza Riviera proposed by former President Trump. However, skepticism about foreign-imposed visions persists, as locals yearn for a rebuilding process that respects their identity and needs. The political landscape complicates discussions, leaving the future of Gaza uncertain.

The battle over Gaza's future: Why no one can agree on the rebuild

In the midst of a still shaky ceasefire, Gazans are taking the first tentative steps along the long road to recovery.

Bulldozers are clearing roads, shoveling the detritus of war into waiting trucks. Mountains of rubble and twisted metal are on either side, the remains of once bustling neighborhoods.

Parts of Gaza City are disfigured beyond recognition.

This was my house, says Abu Iyad Hamdouna. He points to a mangled heap of concrete and steel in Sheikh Radwan, which was once one of Gaza City's most densely populated neighborhoods. It was here. But there's no house left.

Abu Iyad is 63. If Gaza ever rises from the ashes, he doesn't expect to be around to see it. At this rate, I think it'll take 10 years. He looks exhausted and resigned. We'll be dead... we'll die without seeing reconstruction.

Nearby, 43-year-old Nihad al-Madhoun and his nephew Said are picking through the wreckage of what was once a home. The building might well collapse but it doesn't deter them - they collect old breeze blocks and brush thick dust off an old red sofa. The removal of rubble alone might take more than five years, he says. And we will wait. We have no other option.

The sheer scale of the challenge is staggering. The UN estimates the cost of damage at £53bn ($70bn). Almost 300,000 houses and apartments have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN's satellite centre Unosat.

The Gaza Strip is littered with 60 million tonnes of rubble, mixed in with dangerous unexploded bombs and dead bodies.

In all, more than 68,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the past two years, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures are accepted by the United Nations and other international bodies.

There's no shortage of ideas - including grand designs conceived by those with money and power in faraway capitals. US President Donald Trump had his say too.

But Gazans we spoke to are skeptical of schemes drawn up abroad, and they have visions of their own. So the fight is on to shape Gaza's future. The question is, who will prevail?

From Trump's riviera to the Phoenix plan

Yahya al-Sarraj, Gaza City's Hamas-appointed mayor, is out on the streets wearing a hi-vis jacket and surveying the ruins. Already, shops and restaurants are starting to reopen, he points out. Of course it's very modest, he says, but they want to live, and they deserve to live.

Gaza is no stranger to these destructions, he adds, recalling several conflicts prior to the cataclysm that erupted, following the devastating attack that Hamas launched on Israel on 7 October 2023.

We heard about a lot of plans, international, local, regional plans. [But] we have our own plan.

We call it the Phoenix of Gaza. This was the first home-grown Palestinian plan to emerge during the war - in a computer-generated video that accompanied it, shattered communities are seen transformed, as if by magic, into modern neighborhoods.

Yara Salem, an infrastructure specialist, formerly of the World Bank, states, You cannot have foreign-imposed reconstruction plans while you don't have any vision about your own country. The publication of the Phoenix plan followed 13 months of work by a coalition of around 700 Palestinian reconstruction experts.

Today, the creators of the Phoenix plan know that its fate is out of their hands, as competing interests, in the Middle East and beyond, jostle for control of Gaza's future.

This vision stands in sharp contrast to the glitzy Gaza Riviera, a controversial proposal put forth by Trump.

High-tech, AI-powered 'smart cities'

But Trump's Gaza Riviera is not the only glossy vision of a futuristic Gaza that has emerged. A leaked document painted a vision of a high-tech Gaza Strip, under US trusteeship for 10 years. Dubbed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust - Great for short.

The plan envisaged creating a series of modern and AI-powered smart planned cities, noting that poor urban design laid at the heart of Gaza's ongoing insurgency. Yet, concerns arise regarding such grand ideas overshadowing local needs and identities.

'The soul and spirit of Gaza'

The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, is also developing proposals geared towards reconciling Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Estephan Salameh, the PA planning minister, emphasizes preserving the refugee identity and the soul of Gaza itself.

Ultimately, the reconstruction of Gaza remains a complex challenge, requiring not only resources and plans but also a unified vision grounded in the realities and needs of its people.

Lead image credit: Bloomberg/Reuters/ Phoenix. Image shows destroyed buildings in Gaza and an AI-generated impression of the Phoenix plan.