We could wake up one morning soon and be pleasantly surprised to hear that a comprehensive agreement has been reached to save the Gaza Strip. Perhaps a reconciliation will be reached between Fatah and Hamas. Maybe the various global donors will increase their contributions. Gaza's schools may even open their doors for the coming school year and the teachers laid off by UNRWA for lack of funds could return to work. Israel and Hamas could reach an understanding regarding the release of bodies of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Perchance the fires that are lit daily in the Israeli fields surrounding the Gaza Strip will stop and no more Palestinian young people will be killed at the border fence. A port could be established on an island off the Gaza coast. However, the chances that any of these changes will come to pass on their own are not high, and there is a burning need for an immediate solution that will stop the dangerous deterioration in Gaza.

The shocking descriptions of life in Gaza today have lost their impact. Everyone knows that the unemployment rate is staggering. That the only water safe to drink comes from bottles provided by vehicles that circulate daily. That there is electricity for only four hours a day, meaning that people without generators cannot preserve food, even if they have money to purchase it. That the schools are closed. Everyone says they want to help. Everyone seems to understand the danger of people having nothing more to lose.

The Israeli government understands the need for normalization, but some of the families who lost soldiers in the 2014 Gaza war insist that no steps be taken to improve the living conditions of the Strip residents. There must be no easement of the closure, they say, until Hamas returns the bodies of the Israeli soldiers it still holds. The families oppose a prisoner exchange deal and demand that the government put ever more pressure on the Strip's residents until Hamas caves and returns the bones of their sons. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts their demands.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stubbornly vetoes all ideas for improving Gaza's infrastructure. All such programs need the authorization of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah, and Abbas will not authorize such plans until he receives full control of the Strip. He is not willing to serve only as treasurer of Gaza, but wants to control Hamas’ weapons and ammunition and insists that the PA’s control must be “aboveground and below ground as well,” hinting at the tunnels constructed by Hamas.