Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the international community this Sunday that he will not give the green light to any reconstruction plan in the Gaza Strip, devastated after months of Israeli military offensive, as long as there are no firm guarantees that Hamas militias have been completely disarmed.
The head of government has categorically denied a report published this week by the newspaper 'Israel Hayom', which spoke of the launch of a pilot project to manage "humanitarian shelters," conceived as a preliminary step to permanent housing, in areas of the Gaza Strip not under Hamas control, such as Tel Sultan, near Rafah, in the south of the enclave and currently under the control of the Israeli Army.
Netanyahu has flatly dismissed this alternative. "There will be no reconstruction in Gaza without demilitarizing the Strip," he stated at the beginning of the usual weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers, putting an end to any speculation about rehabilitation plans as long as Hamas remains armed.
In parallel, the Gaza Peace Board, headed by United States President Donald Trump, met earlier this week in Cyprus in a context of a clear slowdown in initiatives aimed at alleviating, even partially, the severe humanitarian crisis suffered by the enclave and at shoring up a ceasefire agreed in October, which has been repeatedly violated by the Israeli Army.
Reconstruction projects and proposals to replace Hamas with a committee of Palestinian technocrats remain practically blocked. Hamas has shown willingness to consider handing over its arsenal, but has made it clear that it will not do so before said committee, which it labels a puppet of Washington and Tel Aviv, nor without a broad agreement among the different Palestinian factions.