A key border crossing is set to reopen, the ceasefire is moving forward and the United States is imagining a gleaming new Gaza, but Palestinians in the devastated enclave are still struggling to simply survive.
Residents of the Gaza Strip described desperate conditions this week, but also expressed hope that the reopening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt and phase two of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal will bring some relief after more than two years of death and destruction.
We "hope that this will be good for us because we are living in a very bad situation," Samir Abu Daqa, from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said as he stood in front of a makeshift tent with his five young children.
"We want reconstruction, we want a life, we want schools, we want medical treatment, we want hospitals," said Abu Daqa, 51, who said he previously worked in a cafeteria but was injured during the war and left unable to work.
After months of stagnation, a breakthrough was made this week in efforts to push ahead with the ceasefire deal that was brokered in part by President Donald Trump.
The remains of the last hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, 24-year-old police officer Ran Gvili, were returned to Israel on Monday, completing a key pillar of the truce after tensions over delays and accusations of ceasefire violations.
Rafah crossing set to open
Israel is now expected to make good in the coming days on its promise to at least partially reopen Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt, long considered a lifeline for Palestinians and their primary gateway to the rest of the world.
Hundreds of thousands of families across Gaza have been forced to wait out the first phase of the ceasefire in makeshift tents with little protection from the cold and heavy rains that have flooded camp sites – or the occasional Israeli strikes that have also rained down despite the truce.
"We hope the Rafah crossing opens so we can travel freely and meet many of our family members, those who have been forcibly displaced outside the Gaza Strip," said Duaa Basem Al-Masri, a 26-year-old pharmacist from Beit Hanoun.
She hoped the progress would soon also see the entry of "medical aid, medicines and proper shelter equipment in to the strip, to ease the suffering" in Gaza.
"We hope there will be international pressure on them from President Donald Trump," Basem Al-Masri said.
The second stage of the truce will also require the disarmament of Hamas, a key sticking point in negotiations, as well as the development of Trump's international force to oversee security in Gaza.
In a speech Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his leadership was focused on completing "two remaining missions: The disarming of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza from weapons and tunnels."
"It will be done either the easy way or the hard way," he said. "But in any case, it will happen."
While the ceasefire came into effect nearly four months ago, progress toward the second stage was delayed as Hamas struggled to fulfil a key requirement of the first phase — returning all of the hostages, which it said was made more challenging by the territory’s destruction.
For months, only Gvili's remains had yet to be returned, with Israel announcing their recovery Monday after launching a sweeping operation to locate them amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to move forward with the next phase of the deal.
'People continue to die'
Outlining the U.S. vision for the Palestinian enclave's future last week, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner unveiled plans for a "New Gaza" marked by gleaming high-rises and beaches packed with tourists.
That ambitious presentation at Davos, Switzerland, was a far cry from the dire living conditions Palestinians currently face.
Across the devastated territory, families sheltering in makeshift tents rely on limited aid as they continue to bury loved ones killed in ongoing Israeli strikes.
As of Jan. 22, at least 1.3 million people were estimated to be living in shelter sites across the Gaza Strip, mainly in the central city of Deir al Balah and Khan Younis in the south, according to an update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The World Food Program warned this month that while critical progress had been made in pushing back famine in the enclave, food security "remains extremely fragile."
At a briefing, OCHA spokesperson Olga Cherevko said the U.N. and humanitarian partners had "brought nearly 200,000 metric tons of aid into Gaza" since the ceasefire began, but she said aid organizations were still facing "severe limitations."
Asked how much total aid has entered Gaza since the ceasefire began, the Israeli military agency COGAT did not provide a direct response. It shared a post published Thursday on X saying 4,200 aid trucks were entering Gaza every week and condemning the U.N. for suggesting the situation in the enclave was still "dire."
Before Israel’s offensive in Gaza began, around 500 trucks carrying aid were entering the enclave daily, according to the British Red Cross and other organizations.
Mai Elawawda, communications officer for Medical Aid for Palestinians, said access to clean water, shelter equipment and medication remained limited, while thousands are on waitlists to be allowed to exit Gaza for medical care.
"We are talking here about basic needs," Elawawda, who is based in central Gaza, said in a phone interview Wednesday. "People continue to die as a result of the deteriorating conditions."
More than 480 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the enclave, with Israel accused of repeatedly violating the ceasefire deal by conducting airstrikes.
Israel's military has separately accused Hamas of attacking its forces and violating the truce.
From the view of tents that have been waterlogged by rain during the harsh winter months, Palestinians said they struggled to envision the glimmering tourist destination touted as Gaza's future.
"Building hotels and facilities only to attract visitors — but where would the people of this besieged land go — with their children and grandchildren, and with the traditions and customs they have preserved for decades?" Bassem Al-Masri said.
“They would be erasing Gaza’s identity to gain a small amount of money that will eventually fade away,” she added.
