All eyes on Gaza: United Arab Emirates positions itself for post-war period

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2025
All eyes on Gaza: United Arab Emirates positions itself for post-war period

With Israel and Hamas on the cusp of a ceasefire in Gaza, our reporters investigated the strategy of the United Arab Emirates in the region. The oil and gas-rich Gulf monarchy – a Middle Eastern heavyweight which has a strong rivalry with neighbouring Qatar – is spreading its influence and preparing for the period after the war, when the bombs will finally fall silent in the Gaza Strip and focus will turn to reconstruction.

In recent years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has played a leading role in the normalisation of ties with Israel, with the signature of the Abraham Accords in 2020. But amid criticism for this rapprochement with the Jewish state, the Gulf monarchy wants to polish its image in the Middle East, where public opinion is strongly supportive of the Palestinian cause.

Abu Dhabi has thus decided to use diplomacy and humanitarian aid to show support for the people of Gaza. The wealthy Gulf monarchy is organising evacuations of wounded Gazans by plane to Abu Dhabi, via Israel.

Meanwhile, in the middle of Egypt's Sinai desert, on the border with Gaza, the UAE has built a floating hospital, huge aid storage hangars and six desalination plants capable of supplying drinking water to more than 600,000 Gazans – a quarter of the enclave's inhabitants.

Fifteen months of war in Gaza has killed over 46,000 people and left 110,000 wounded, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The material damage is also immense. Experts predict that reconstruction will take decades and will cost at least $40 billion — the largest rebuilding effort since the end of World War II and the Marshall Plan.

How will the reconstruction of Gaza be organised? How is the "day after" the war being planned for? For this report, our journalists Sophie Guignon, Chloe Domat and Claire Duhamel travelled to the UAE, Egypt and Israel.

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