The Gaza Strip lies in ruins. Since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, the subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza have largely devastated homes, schools, universities, hospitals, cultural and religious institutions, roads and infrastructure, farmland, and even the soil itself. Reconstruction is urgent. Yet contemporary reconstruction schemes imposed from outside, ranging from large-scale master plans to visions for the wholesale redevelopment of Gaza, risk perpetuating cycles of violence, destruction, and displacement. By treating the territory as an empty site, a tabula rasa, they erase the social, spatial, and historical structures that have taken shape there. Planning the future of Gaza without involving its inhabitants denies them the right to determine their own future.
