European officials speaking to Reuters have expressed concern that the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal was effectively stalled and that reconstruction was increasingly unlikely. It comes as Israel continues to violate the U.S.-brokered truce, killing at least 242 Palestinians and injuring 622 since the deal came into effect on October 10. Under the agreement, the Israeli military currently controls a little over half of the Gaza Strip, including the southern city of Rafah and parts of Gaza City. Nearly 2 million residents of the Gaza Strip are crammed into tent camps in the sections controlled by Hamas. This is Hamas’s spokesperson Hazem Qassem calling for the reconstruction phase to begin.

Hazem Qassem: “We are clearly saying that Hamas won’t be in the picture of ruling the Gaza Strip during the next day, and this has been agreed upon. There will be a social support committee from independent people which will rule everything in the strip. Therefore, we are working on removing all the excuses put by all sides to prevent reconstruction. All the regions of Gaza deserve reconstruction equally. Hamas is ready to hand in power from now, in a way that the process of the Gaza Strip’s reconstruction starts. And this is a right of the people of the Gaza Strip.”