Gaza Will Be Rebuilt by Its People, Not by Investment Boards
Amid the ongoing bloodshed of our people, the world’s elites gather in Davos to sign charters for a so-called Gaza Board of Peace, debating investment plans as Gaza continues to be destroyed. We see an international community whose latest proposal ignores the most fundamental right of Palestinians: the right to justice against their perpetrator. We find it absurd, even obscene, to speak of reconstruction and profit while the state of Israel continues its genocide, fueling its machinery with the thirst for killing and displacement. They speak of "investment" while erasing accountability; they plan for a future Gaza without consulting the very people fighting to survive in it.
But we know that Gaza is not waiting for permission to live. Gaza is being rebuilt, right now, by its own hands.
We recently concluded one of our largest operations since the beginning of the genocide, a massive three-day campaign in Northern Gaza. Working alongside local civil teams - engineers, sanitation workers, and heavy machinery drivers who have gone unpaid for two years - we mobilized a workforce of over 70 people.
In Al-Nasr and Sheikh Radwan, our teams repaired main water lines severed by IOF bombing and suctioned sewage that had flooded residential homes, threatening people's health. In the northern neighborhoods, we removed hundreds of tons of solid waste that had piled up around shelter centers, lifting the weight of squalor from displaced families.
But our most significant victory was the reopening of Street 10, a vital artery closed for months by mountains of rubble. We deployed a fleet of 10 trucks and 5 excavators to clear the path. For the first time in months, displaced families could reach their destroyed homes to salvage furniture and memories they thought were lost forever.
As Mohammad, our field manager, described it:
"We work as servants to the people of Gaza; the people of Gaza do not work for us, nor are we above them. We work as servants to them, their children, their young ones, and their infants, so we can provide and fill the needs that arise from this."
The Catalyst for Revival
The total cost for this massive mobilization - including direct honorariums for the workers, fuel for the machinery, and food for the teams - was approximately $13,000 USD.
By providing the "fuel" - both literal diesel and financial support for the human workforce - we unlocked millions of dollars worth of infrastructure value. We believe that if this model of direct, dignity-based support continues, the revival of Gaza will accelerate exponentially. Gazans are capable of rebuilding, but after surviving a genocide, they should not have to endure the financial burden of reconstruction alone.
We reject normalization, for no global order has legitimacy while Palestinians are denied self-determination, and we insist on accountability, knowing there can be no future while crimes against our people are rewarded with "investment plans" instead of trials. Aid without liberation sustains injustice; therefore, we must support the steadfastness of Gaza by dismantling the systems of occupation - the blockades, the military control, and the apartheid laws.
Gaza has taught the world that humanity is worth fighting for. Our people are rooted in this land, and with your solidarity, we will rebuild it - on our terms, with our hands, for our freedom.
