After two years of war, some Gazans in the UAE say they are seeing a glimmer of hope for peace, while others are less optmistic.

“I am scared to believe anything they say,” said Mariam (name changed on request).“We have seen peace plans before. We have seen talks before. We know how the mediation efforts by Qatar turned out. So, I'm not getting my hopes too high. But if it manages to stop the merciless bloodshed, then it would be a huge relief.”

Last week, US President Donald Trump revealed a 20-point ceasefire proposal while hosting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. On Monday, a high-level Hamas delegation was in Egypt along with the Qatari prime minister to begin indirect talks with Israel.

Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.

Mariam hails from Gaza but her family migrated to Jordan in 2008. She said that she hopes a peace plan will allow her to return home someday.“Once my family left Gaza, none of us returned there,” she said.“I know it is very far-fetched, but I hope that peace is restored and one day, we are able to go home. The home I grew up in has been razed to the ground in the bombings. If a war-free future is a possibility, I would like to go back and rebuild my home.”

As the world marks two years since the Gaza war began, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees published a factsheet detailing the scale of destruction and humanitarian impact imposed by Israel. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has dropped at least 75,000 tonnes of explosives on the enclave. The factsheet shows that about 80 per cent of structures across Gaza are damaged or destroyed, more than 98 per cent of cropland has been damaged or inaccessible and 660,000 children have been out of school for a third consecutive year. Nearly 90 per cent of water and sanitation assets have been destroyed or damaged. Earlier, the UN had estimated that it could take more than $53 billion and 15 years to reconstruct Gaza.

For Dubai resident Anwaar Awni, the ongoing situation in Gaza is a painful reminder of her past.“In 1948 - the year my father was born - Israel displaced his family from their home city of Jaffa,” she recalled.“My grandparents fled to Gaza with my father, uncles and aunt, who was about 10 years old at the time. My father grew up in Gaza, but he was expelled from there in his youth. He was refused permission to go back to the city even when his father was on his deathbed. My aunt is still living in Gaza and for her this war has been the second time she has been displaced from her home.”

Anwaar moved to the UAE in 2012 and in the last two years, she has lost“everything” including her home, their family business and most of her extended family.“The 27 years I lived in Gaza, the memories I made and the people I loved are all gone,” she said.“I planted olive trees, oranges , figs, lemons and almond trees in my home. It was meant for my nieces and nephews to eat from, and I used to take care of them but it is all gone now. They burned my university; they killed my cousins and neighbors and destroyed every single happy memory we have there.”

She said that she was skeptical to hope for a lasting solution of peace.“But I still dream. I dream that I will visit a free Palestine and see the hometown where my dad, uncles and aunts were born. I don't know if that will ever become a reality,” she said.

Several UN experts have cautioned that key elements of Trump's peace plan for Gaza were inconsistent with international law and risked deepening oppression of Palestinians. The experts, including Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on rights in the Palestinian territory, slammed the plan's call for a transitional "Board of Peace" in Gaza, which would be chaired by Trump himself, and called the move to leave partial Israeli occupation in place "indefinitely" through a security perimeter inside Gaza as "absolutely unacceptable".

MENAFN06102025000049011007ID1110157656