’Stay strong!’ Thousands rally for Gaza hostages in Jerusalem

WASHINGTON: There is “almost nothing left” of Gaza and rebuilding the war-ravaged enclave could take 10 to 15 years, US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told Axios in an interview at the end of his trip to the region on Thursday.
“People are moving north to get back to their homes and see what happened and turn around and leave ... there is no water and no electricity. It is stunning just how much damage occurred there,” Witkoff told the news website after visiting Gaza.
Witkoff, a real estate investor and Trump campaign donor with business ties to Qatar and other states, was in the region to oversee implementation of a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
His assessment comes days after Trump floated the idea that some of Arab nations should get involved with and build “housing at a different location where they (Gazans) can maybe live in peace for a change.”
Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza, territory they want to form part of an independent state, has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and repeatedly rejected by neighboring Arab states since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
Witkoff told Axios he had not discussed with Trump the idea of moving Palestinians from Gaza.
A UN damage assessment released this month showed that clearing over 50 million tons of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
The debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, with some refugee camps struck during the war known to have been built with the material. The rubble also likely holds human remains. The Palestinian Ministry of Health estimates that 10,000 bodies are missing under the debris.
“There has been this perception we can get to a solid plan for Gaza in five years. But it’s impossible. This is a 10 to 15 year rebuilding plan,” Witkoff told Axios.
“There is nothing left standing. Many unexploded ordnances. It is not safe to walk there. It is very dangerous. I wouldn’t have known this without going there and inspecting,” he said.

GAZA CITY: Hamas confirmed on Thursday the death of its military chief Mohammed Deif, accused by Israel of being one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attack and whose killing it announced last year.
“The Al-Qassam Brigades announce to our great people the martyrdom of a group of distinguished fighters and heroic commanders,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, announced in a video statement, naming “commander Mohammed Deif, chief of staff of the Al-Qassam Brigades (and) commander Marwan Issa, deputy chief of staff” among them.
Israel had accused Deif of being one of the key architects of October 7, along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed on October 16, 2024.
On August 1 last year, the Israeli military announced it had killed Deif in an air strike in Gaza the month before.
The military said fighter jets had struck Khan Yunis on July 13 and “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike.”
He was killed along with one of his top commanders, Rafa Salama, the military said.
“Deif initiated, planned, and executed the October 7th massacre,” the military added.
Deif became head of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, in 2002.
He was among Israel’s most wanted men for nearly three decades and on a US list of “international terrorists” since 2015.
Deif, whose real name is Mohammed Diab Al-Masri, was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in 1965.
In videos, Deif had appeared masked or shown in silhouette, and photos of him were rare.
In January 2024, Israel released a picture of Deif showing him with one eye missing, without specifying when it was taken.
His enemies dubbed Deif the “cat with nine lives” after his many close calls with death.
In 2014, Israel launched an air strike on Gaza, killing Deif’s wife and a seven-month-old son.
Deif is said to have played a key role in the huge network of tunnels built beneath Gaza.
In May, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested a warrant for his arrest, along with Sinwar, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Until Thursday, Hamas had not confirmed his death.