Walking in the street, travelling in a car or sitting in a cafe in the Gaza Strip these days, you can hear people talking about and analysing one central issue - whether new Egyptian-sponsored efforts to reconcile the rival Islamist Hamas and the secular Fatah groups can work.  Another thorny thought common in almost every discussion is whether Cairo would be able to turn the current lull in fighting between Israel and Hamas into a durable, sustainable ceasefire that will allow a proper opening of crossings into the coastal territory. Gaza’s 1.5 million popupation was relieved when Israel and Hamas declared separate ceasefires in January following 22-day of Israeli military strikes that killed 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. But relief is still mixed with doubt and unease a month later.

People who lost their houses remain homeless, living with friends, with relatives and in rental apartments and their hopes to rebuild their homes seem remote following news of a setback in Egyptian efforts to reach a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas earlier this month. In daylight those people visit tents they established on and near the rubble of what were once their houses in order to receive Arab and other foreign visitors who visit to assess the damage and promise aid to come. International donors will discuss funding at Sharm el-Sheikh in neighbouring Egypt on Monday. Bulldozers have cleared streets in areas where the Israeli army operated in January but the rubble of houses, offices and Hamas security headquarters remained unremoved. Hamas policemen helped by United Nations teams acted to remove several unexploded bombs from several locations after two children were killed playing with an object recently.

Visitors are often received by appeals, anger, despair and some of mistrust by those who lost their houses or loved ones. International envoys have urged Hamas and Fatah to reunite in order for the donors to find an official recognised party to deal with over Gaza reconstruction plans. But for aid to come and crossings to open and allow construction materials into the coastal territory, efforts by Egypt need to succeed to recocile Hamas with both President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah movement and, up to a point, with Israel.

There are many questions that torment Gazans when talking about these issues and the failure in previous initiatives to reconcile Hamas and Fatah hover like a ghost over conversations. Will Abbas and Hamas be able to form a unity government, one Israel, the United States and the West would agree to cooperate with and support? In a visit to Prague on Monday Abbas said Hamas needed to respect existing peace deals with Israel to be a partner in a unity government with his Fatah group.

“God’s willing it will work. Enough is enough,” said Hassan, a Fatah activist, whose brother was detained by Hamas. “We want to see an end to this. Since Fatah and Hamas leaders met recently we have begun to feel better and we hope it is going to be really better,” he said. Hamas activists also want an end to arrest campaigns against them by Fatah security services in the Fatah-run, Israeli-occupied West Bank. The issue of prisoners foiled Egypt’s efforts to reconcile the two groups on November and it remains an issue of dispute that cast a shadow of doubt over the current Cairo intervention. Hoping to corner the factions and push them to reconcile, the Egyptian proposal has stitched the thorny files together - a truce with Israel, reconciliation talks and Gaza reconstruction, and any failure in one of these files would heavily affect the other.

“If you want a sack of cement, you need Fatah and Hamas to unite and you need a truce. If you need fuel, you need peace between Hamas, Fatah and Israel,” said Abu Mohammed Ali, who works for a telephone company. “It is like a scorpion’s web.”