ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
A fragile ceasefire is holding so far in Gaza, yet the Palestinian territory is already facing urgent questions about its future. Who's going to govern Gaza, provide security and oversee the monumental job of reconstruction? To see where this is headed, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myre in Tel Aviv. Hi, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Elissa.
NADWORNY: So a very basic question. Who is actually in charge of Gaza right now?
MYRE: Well, at this moment, no one can legitimately claim to be in charge. The ceasefire agreement says Hamas will no longer govern Gaza. And in practice, the Hamas leadership inside the territory was decimated by two years of war. It's hard to say who are the top officials there anymore. So right now, you essentially have 2 million people in Gaza largely on their own, trying to meet their daily needs of food and shelter. So I spoke about this and the road ahead with Mkhaimar Abusada. He's a political science professor from Gaza, though he's been living in Cairo.
MKHAIMAR ABUSADA: The easy part has been done. The most complicated issues will be in the second stage of this Trump proposal, meaning the governance of Gaza, demilitarization of Gaza and also rebuilding and reconstruction of Gaza.
NADWORNY: So who is going to fill this vacuum if no one's in control?
MYRE: Well, the ceasefire calls for a committee of Palestinian technocrats to run Gaza on an interim basis. Egypt's foreign minister says there is now a list of 15 people, and he says the names have been approved by Hamas and Israel. However, the names haven't been announced. And it's not clear when they'll take over or how much authority they'll have to take care of things like health care, education, water, electricity, coordination with aid groups. And, Elissa, as you know, the needs are staggering. And this committee certainly won't have many resources to work with.
NADWORNY: Would they be in charge of Gaza's security?
MYRE: So it seems they'll likely play a role, though we really don't have any clarity. Right now, the Hamas civilian police, armed with guns, have returned to the streets. And these Hamas policemen have been in deadly shootouts already with some Palestinian clans, which are essentially armed gangs. So the security situation is very volatile.
Now, Egypt says it's training about 5,000 new Palestinian policemen for Gaza. This training has been taking place in recent weeks in Egypt. It's not clear when these new policemen might come to Gaza and if Hamas will accept this new authority. The ceasefire does call for Hamas to disarm. And we heard President Trump say yesterday, quote, "if they don't disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently." But realistically, the U.S. is not going to send troops into Gaza. And Israel couldn't fully disarm Hamas in two years of war. So Hamas will have to do this voluntarily or it probably won't happen.
NADWORNY: Right. Well, finally, reconstruction in Gaza is going to be a massive undertaking. I mean, what are we hearing at this point?
MYRE: Well, we're hearing some huge numbers about the cost of rebuilding. The U.N. has put the figure of $70 billion out there.
NADWORNY: Wow.
MYRE: And Job 1 would just be clearing the destroyed buildings, which have been reduced to mounds of rubble. Now, President Trump says he expects wealthy Arab states to provide the money. He's probably talking about Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar. These countries have helped rebuild Gaza in the past. But this time, they haven't publicly committed money so far. And they'll want to see Gaza become a little more stable before they're likely to start pouring money in.
NADWORNY: Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you so much, Greg.
MYRE: Sure thing, Elissa.
NADWORNY: That was NPR's Greg Myre in Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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