"What was destroyed in Gaza was not merely steel and concrete. Israel eradicated an entire social and economic world, built up over generations, and only Palestinians can rebuild it," said Mohammad Skaik, Gaza Program Manager, PalTrade .

"Reconstruction is not only a humanitarian task; it is a political one. A plan designed in foreign capitals, however well-funded, would be a cosmetic exercise - simply another form of control over Palestinian land and lives. Our consultations across Gaza carried one unmistakable message: nothing about our future without us," adds Misyef Jamil, Senior Researcher at MAS .

The report sets out a five-year framework for recovery and rebuilding grounded in Palestinian ownership at every stage, underpinned by rights-based principles and a single national vision linking Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It rejects externally imposed models that sideline Palestinian agency or fragment Palestinian territory, including any international trusteeship over Gaza, and calls for coordination with the EU, Egypt, Arab Gulf states, the UN and international agencies, anchored in international law and protected from profit-driven models of recovery.

Ahead of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly and upcoming donor talks, the report sets a clear test for the Board of Peace and every government funding Gaza's recovery: transfer real decision-making power to Palestinians, dismantle the blockade and restrictions that have strangled every previous reconstruction, guarantee accountability for Israel's genocide, and commit to a political horizon that ends the occupation and delivers the Palestinian self-determination owed for decades.

"The world has become very good at costing Gaza's destruction but very bad at stopping it," said Behar. "Palestinians have now set out how their recovery can actually succeed. Back their plan, end the impunity, and Gaza can be rebuilt for the last time."