Gaza's Next Disaster: No Cement for Rebuilding

For years before the latest hostilities, Hamas, the Palestinian political organization, complained that Israeli restrictions on cement imports into Gaza were preventing the population from constructing homes, schools, and hospitals. As it turns out, a large share of the cement that did reach Gaza went into building underground lairs and attack tunnels for fighters from Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimate that each of the three dozen underground passages that troops have found so far required 350 truckloads of building supplies.

Here’s the dilemma: Gaza is going to need major reconstruction. In addition to countless homes and a hospital that Hamas commandeered, the Israeli bombardment has destroyed 50 factories that produced food products, soft drinks, and textiles, among other goods, according to Ali Al-Hayek, vice president of the Palestinian Federation of Industries. But if cement imports resume, what’s to stop Hamas, which runs the enclave, from again taking or smuggling it to rebuild its underground military infrastructure? That strategy would doubtless provoke Israeli retaliation—and a likely repeat of the current conflict.