Netanyahu said the announcement of the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire was a ‘declarative step’.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Nine people, including three women, were killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza on Thursday, a day after the U.S. announced a fragile cease-fire would move into a second phase.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the cease-fire declaration largely symbolic, raising the question of how to implement the more challenging elements.

Speaking to parents of the last Israeli hostages whose remains lie in Gaza, Netanyahu said late Wednesday that the Palestinians’ ruling committee announced as part of the second phase was merely a “declarative step” rather than a sign of progress, as described by US Ambassador Steve Wittkoff.

The parents of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili previously pressed Netanyahu not to advance the ceasefire until their son’s remains are returned, Israel’s Hostage and Disappeared Families Forum said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu told Givili’s parents that his return was a top priority.

The announcement of the second phase of the ceasefire is an important step forward but many questions remain unanswered.

These include the creation of a proposed, apolitical management committee of Palestinian experts and an international “peace board”.

The composition of the committee was coordinated with Israel, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

Questions include the timing of the deployment of international troops and the reopening of Gaza’s southern Rafah border crossing, as well as concrete details on disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.

In an interview Wednesday with West Bank-based Radio Basma, Ali Shath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official who heads the committee, said he estimated reconstruction and recovery would take about three years. He said it will start with immediate needs like shelter.

“If I bring a bulldozer, and push the rubble into the sea, and build new islands (in the sea), new land, it’s a victory for Gaza and (we) get rid of the rubble,” said Shaath, a resident of Gaza.

Progress is announced but hardships endure

Palestinians in Gaza who spoke to The Associated Press questioned what the move to a second phase would actually change on the ground, pointing to ongoing bloodshed and challenges to securing basic needs.

More than 450 people have died since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October, Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday.

According to local hospitals, nine people died in multiple strikes on Thursday. Al-Aqsa Martyr Hospital reported that two men were killed in the first attack, while three women and one man were killed in the second attack. Later, two people were killed and five wounded in an attack on a house, according to Al-Awda Hospital in Nussarat. In addition, one person died in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital.

Israeli military officials did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the attack.

Separately, the army said it had killed someone on Thursday who approached troops near the so-called Yellow Line – which divides the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza from the rest – and posed an imminent threat.

“We see that the war has not stopped, the bloodshed has not stopped and our suffering in the tent has not ended,” said Samed Abu Rawagh, a man displaced from Jabaliya in southern Gaza.

The casualties since the October ceasefire, which Unicef ​​said include more than 100 children, are among 71,441 Palestinians killed since Israel’s offensive began, according to the ministry, which did not say how many were combatants or civilians.

The ministry is part of the government run by Hamas and is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and independent experts consider it the most reliable source of war damage. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

Hamza Abu Shahab, a man from East Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, said he was waiting for tangible changes, such as easier access to food, fuel and medical care, rather than promises.

“We were happy with this news, but we ask God that it is not just empty words,” he told AP in Khan Yunis. “We need this news to be real, because in the second phase we will be able to return to our homes and our territories … God willing, it will not be just empty promises.”

Gaza’s population of more than two million has struggled to survive cold weather and storms while facing a lack of humanitarian aid and badly needed temporary housing during the winter months.

This is the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023, when the rebels attacked southern Israel and killed nearly 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others.

Challenges lie ahead

The second phase of the ceasefire will face even more thorny issues than the first, including disarming Hamas and transitioning to a new governance structure after nearly two decades of the group’s rule in the Strip.

The United Nations estimates that reconstruction will cost more than 50 billion dollars. The process is expected to take years and so far little money has been promised.

Hamas has said it will dissolve its existing government to make way for a committee announced as part of the second phase of the ceasefire. But it has not made clear what its military wing or the number of civil servants and civilian police affiliated with Hamas will be.

Bassem Naim, a member of the group’s political bureau, said Thursday that Hamas welcomed the committee’s announcement as a step toward establishing an independent Palestinian state, but did not elaborate on the issues in question. He said at X that “the ball is now in the court” for the United States and international arbitrators to allow it to operate.

Israel insists Hamas must keep its weapons, while the group’s leaders have rejected calls to surrender despite two years of war, saying Palestinians have a “right to resist”.

___

Metz reported from Jerusalem. Joseph Federman and Melanie Lidman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.