STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now that there's a ceasefire in Gaza, people there face the challenge of rebuilding.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
There's no money, though. There are bodies and unexploded bombs in the rubble. And virtually every building has been damaged or destroyed.
INSKEEP: NPR's Greg Myre is following this aspect of the story from Tel Aviv. Hello again, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hey, Steve.
INSKEEP: Wow, this is amazing. And I know President Trump at one point talked about turning this place into the Riviera or some such, but it is what it is now. So where do you start?
MYRE: Well, you just start by clearing the rubble. And NPR's Anas Baba has been walking around Gaza City, and he reports that bulldozers are clearing some of the main roads, but there's still just a huge amount of work to be done.
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: Piles and piles and mountains of debris and rubble that cover the city streets. We're talking about hospitals. We're talking here about houses. We're talking about universities.
INSKEEP: OK, so you got to clear off the rubble, then start building. What does Gaza need most?
MYRE: Well, Steve, it needs so many things, and let's just focus on one - cement. So basic to building all over the world, yet it has this complicated history in Gaza. Israel says that in the past, Hamas siphoned off cement going into Gaza and meant for civilian projects, and made hundreds of miles of concrete tunnels that its fighters used in the war. Israel says this will not happen again, but this means Israel will keep a close eye on construction materials, and that's likely to slow down the supplies going into Gaza. I spoke with Hady Amr. He was the U.S. special representative for Palestinian affairs until the beginning of this year.
HADY AMR: Tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza used to work in Israel doing construction. They are perfectly capable of doing the work. It's a question of freedom, security and resources.
INSKEEP: Oh, that's very interesting. So who is running Gaza right now - the people responsible for security and everything else?
MYRE: Yeah. Steve, Gaza really doesn't have a government right now. The Hamas leadership has been decimated. The ceasefire calls for a committee of technocrats to be formed, but we don't know when that might happen. The security conditions are still very volatile. Hamas police are back on the streets. Hamas gunmen are waging gun battles with Palestinian clans. A new Palestinian police force is being trained in Egypt. It's supposed to take over at some point, but we don't know when.
INSKEEP: Well, who is going to be willing to pour their money into Gaza, then, to finance this rebuilding under such conditions?
MYRE: Yeah, a functioning government and a relatively stable security situation are needed, really, to encourage the donors to help jump start the process. And the absence of these things will slow it down. Again, here's Hady Amr.
AMR: We're at a precarious moment here. If Palestinians can get the freedom to import, export, travel, then we can enter a virtuous circle. But if we don't get that quickly, there's going to be frustration on the ground.
MYRE: So President Trump is calling on wealthy countries to foot the bill. He's referring to the likes of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. All these countries have provided reconstruction money in the past, and they'll likely do it again, but they don't want this to be an endless cycle.
INSKEEP: Two potential outcomes - the virtuous circle or the endless cycle. Greg, thanks so much.
MYRE: Sure thing, Steve.
INSKEEP: NPR's Greg Myre has covered the Middle East for many years. He is in Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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