In the midst of a still shaky ceasefire, Gazans are taking the first tentative steps along the long road to recovery.
Bulldozers are clearing roads, shovelling the detritus of war into waiting trucks. Mountains of rubble and twisted metal are on either side, the remains of once bustling neighbourhoods.
Parts of Gaza City are disfigured beyond recognition.
This was my house, says Abu Iyad Hamdouna. He points to a mangled heap of concrete and steel in Sheikh Radwan, which was once one of Gaza City's most densely populated neighbourhoods.
It was here. But there's no house left.
Abu Iyad is 63. If Gaza ever rises from the ashes, he doesn't expect to be around to see it.
At this rate, I think it'll take 10 years. He looks exhausted and resigned. We'll be dead... we'll die without seeing reconstruction. Nearby, 43-year-old Nihad al-Madhoun and his nephew Said are picking through the wreckage of what was once a home.
The sheer scale of the challenge is staggering. The UN estimates the cost of damage at £53bn ($70bn). Almost 300,000 houses and apartments have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN's satellite centre Unosat.
In the midst of such destruction, it's hard to know where to begin. There's no shortage of ideas - including grand designs conceived by those with money and power in faraway capitals. The US President Donald Trump had his say too.
This vision stands in sharp contrast to the glitzy Gaza Riviera, a controversial proposal first described in February by President Trump during a meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
As Gaza struggles to define its future, competing visions—such as the grassroots 'Phoenix plan' advocating for locals' input—stand against imposed foreign constructions that many Gazans view with skepticism. The rebuilding process will hinge not just on immediate physical needs but on addressing the political and economic frameworks shaping Gaza's governance and stability.
Ultimately, while external powers present ambitious plans, the fight for a sustainable Gaza relies heavily on whether its own people can reclaim their voice in the recovery process.
