U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said that there is “not a lot to govern” in Gaza currently, but Hamas will not control the area in the future.
Witkoff told Newsmax on Tuesday that the area was “ravaged” and that it was “a lot worse than I expected.”
“I'd describe it as something that looked like it came out of a Hollywood movie set. You wouldn't believe it. Very few buildings are standing. Anything that is standing is listing to the side. Massive, massive demolition all over the place. I now know, I can give you this information, that there's at least 30,000 unexploded projectiles that were fired into Gaza that are dangerous. There's no running water, electricity, gas. So probably all the utility lines are busted. It's a rough place right now,” Witkoff told host Greta Van Susteren.
The notion that Gaza can be reconstructed in a five-year period of time, which is phase three of the protocol agreement signed by Hamas, Israel, and the Biden administration, is “just an impossibility” and “can never happen,” Witkoff added.
“We estimate that just cleaning out the unexploded ordnance is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a two-year job. So, it's almost as if you've got a minefield in the Gaza Strip today. Then after that, you've got a cleanup effort from everything that was demolished, and that's probably at least another three years. After that, you've got to X-ray, basically take a subterranean look, and understand what's left of the stone that's down below,” Witkoff said. “It's sort of like Swiss cheese down there. You've got tunnels that are crisscrossing it, and that's degraded the foundations down there and probably has degraded where all the utility lines are working.”
“We estimate that a full-on Gaza build can't begin before somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 years, which puts the finishing touches on Gaza pursuant to some sort of very credible master plan at the 15-20 year mark,” Witkoff continued. “So, the notion that we can do anything about Gaza in the immediate future, it just can't happen. And I actually don't believe, and I think it's irresponsible, to be letting people move back there in large amounts because there are many dangerous conditions there.”
“Now, beyond that — and the president has said this — whoever is going to govern can't be a part of a terrorist organization and Hamas is. ... We're just not going to have a governing council that includes Hamas,” Witkoff stated.
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