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☆ Fierce Fighting in Gaza as War Hits 100 Days
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-14 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

The military also said its forces destroyed several rocket pits used by Hamas to fire missiles at Israel. We are seekers of freedom," he said, saying the attack was, in part, a response to the years-long Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has controlled since 2007. The military says, though, the next phase of the war will see more targeted operations against the movement's leaders and military positions. In Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, Nana, a 17-year-old high school student displaced from northern Gaza, said 100 days of war "turned our life upside down." (Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Reporting and writing by Nidal Almughrabi in Doha, Fadi Shana in Gaza.

Persons: Nidal, Fadi Shana DOHA, Khan Younis, Al Maghazi, Ismail Haniyeh, Benjamin Netanyahu, Kfar Yuval, Ari Rabinovitch, Nidal Almughrabi, Fadi Shana, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Communications, Hamas Locations: GAZA, Gaza, Khan, Al, Israel, Istanbul, Lebanon, Iran, Kfar, Rafah, Jerusalem, Doha

[1/5] Members of Palestinian, Basheer's family sit in their relatives' house after the destruction of their house in Israeli air strikes, in Deir al-Balah town in the central Gaza Strip, May 12, 2023. The Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has reported 370 Palestinians killed so far, and another 2,200 wounded, with nearly 300 killed on Saturday, the largest number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks in a single day since 2008. Israeli air strikes on Gaza began soon after the Hamas attack and continued overnight and into Sunday, destroying the group's offices and training camps, along with houses and other buildings. AIR STRIKESThe Israeli army has said its fighter jets have destroyed 800 militant targets so far in the Gaza Strip. Home to some 2 million people, the Gaza Strip has been run by Hamas since it seized control of the territory in 2007.

Persons: Abu Mustafa, Khan Younis, Benjamin Netanyahu, Abu Daqqa, Salama Marouf, Abu, Egypt's, Israel, Beit Hanoun, Eid Al, Attar, Ashraf Al, Israel Katz, Nidal, Tom Perry, Ros Russell Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Health Ministry, Gaza, UN, Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli Energy, Israel, Thomson Locations: Deir al, Gaza, Israel, Rafah, Khan, Beit Lahiya

[1/5] Palestinian workers enter the reopened Erez crossing to Israel, after Israeli ends a ban on workers from Gaza, in Gaza City September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa Acquire Licensing RightsGAZA, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Israel reopened crossing points with Gaza on Thursday, allowing thousands of Palestinian workers to get to their jobs in Israel and the West Bank, after nearly two weeks of closure prompted by violent protests along the border. Cogat, the Israeli Defence Ministry agency that coordinates with the Palestinians, said security assessments would determine whether the border remained open. Israel blocks many goods from entering Gaza with Egyptian backing, citing security concerns, and also reserves the right to restrict exports. According to IMF figures, per capita income in Gaza is only a quarter of that of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Persons: Abu Mustafa, Israel, Khaled Zurub, Cogat, Hazem, Nidal Organizations: REUTERS, West Bank, United, Reuters, Israeli Defence Ministry, Hamas, Bank, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Gaza City, Egypt, United Nations

[1/4] A view shows an empty Palestinian passenger terminal as Israel bans Gaza workers in punitive measures over border protests, at the Erez crossing in northern Gaza Strip, September 20, 2023. The move stops more than 18,000 Palestinians from crossing for work, depriving the blockaded territory's ailing economy of around $2 million a day, according to local economists. On Tuesday, a Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces during the protests and 11 others were wounded, according to Gaza health officials. A spokesperson for Cogat, the Israeli Defence Ministry agency that coordinates with the Palestinians, confirmed that the Erez crossing into Gaza was closed and said it would be re-opened "in accordance with situational assessments." Over the past few weeks, the military said its soldiers had been using riot dispersal means against Palestinians throwing explosives at the border fence along the Gaza Strip.

Persons: Abu Mustafa, Al, Ayman Abu Krayyem, ”, Nidal Almughrabi, William Maclean Organizations: REUTERS, Gaza, West Bank, Hamas, Cogat, Israeli Defence Ministry, World Bank, Gaza Ministry, Labour, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Al Aqsa, Palestinian, Egypt, Erez, Qatar

☆ Explosion Kills Five Palestinians During Gaza Border Protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Sept. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

GAZA (Reuters) - Five Palestinians were killed on Wednesday at the Israel-Gaza border by an explosive device that appeared to have been detonated accidentally, Palestinian officials said, as protests along the volatile frontier have ticked up after months of relative quiet. Dozens of Gaza youth held a protest along the border in support of Palestinians jailed in Israel. An umbrella group of Palestinian factions said the explosion was caused by a device some of the protesters had planned to use during the rally. The Israeli military said in a statement that the protesters had tried to throw it at its soldiers across the border. The Palestinian Health Ministry said five people had been killed.

Persons: Nidal, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Palestinian Health Ministry Locations: GAZA, Israel, Gaza

[1/5] A view of Palestinian goods trucks in front of the commercial crossing of Kerem Shalom after the Israeli ban on Gaza exports deals a blow to the long-suffering economy, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip September 5, 2023. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Israeli decision "would increase the already existing tension because of continued Israeli blockade and aggression against our people". In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian economy minister Khaled Assaili demanded Israel cancel the ban which stops Gaza exports to Israel and the West Bank. Gaza exports are estimated at $134 million per year, mostly to Israel and the West Bank, according to the enclave's ministry of economy. As well as fish and agricultural produce, Gaza exports significant quantities of textiles and other products.

Persons: Kerem Shalom, Abu Mustafa, Bahar, Mohammad Al, Hajj, Hazem Qassem, Khaled Assaili, Assaili, Osama Nofal, Wadhah Bseisso, Nidal, Peter Graff Organizations: REUTERS, Israel, West Bank, Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Palestinian Industries Union, Thomson Locations: Kerem, Rafah, Gaza, Israel, Ramallah, Hamas

GAZA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - With car tyres, rocks and mounds of sand as seats, Palestinians of all ages have been enjoying a rare trip to the movies at a big-screen event on the Gaza beachfront. Hosted by "The Sea is Ours" cafe, the screenings were designed to promote issues of culture and history approved by the conservative Islamist Hamas government. "We can get movies on mobile phones, but this is something new and is nice," said 15-year-old Hadeel Hejji. Ali Mhana, 35, the cafe owner and local playwright, said he had never been to a regular cinema. People are here all the time, including children, who get attracted by the sound and image and come to watch the movies," Mhana said.

Persons: Ferdinand, Mohammad Zidan, lolled, Hejji, Ali Mhana, Mhana, Nidal Almughrabi, Alison Williams Organizations: Thomson Locations: GAZA, Gaza

[1/5] Majdi El-Tattar, a man with disability from Gaza trains children to swim as he became a high-in-demand swimming coach, in Gaza City August 5, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu MustafaGAZA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Majdi El-Tattar was just nine years old when he lost his leg in an accident. Now he is an inspiration to aspiring swimmers in Gaza - as a qualified swimming coach who runs his own school. "I developed my skills and that enabled me to start a swimming school," Tattar told Reuters as a few dozen of his students trained in the water. Earlier this month, the U.S.-based Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) brought together 120 Gaza children who have upper and lower limb amputations, into a summer camp.

Persons: Abu, Tattar, Gazans, Saed, Nidal Almughrabi, Angus MacSwan Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Palestinian Swimming Academy, International Committee, Assalama Charitable Society, Palestine Children's Relief, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Gaza City, Abu Mustafa GAZA, Israel, U.S

[1/3] A Palestinian, Mustafa Abdou, repairs a fan in his shop amid a heatwave at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed SalemGAZA, July 30 (Reuters) - While soaring temperatures across the Middle East are causing discomfort for many, Gaza electrical appliance repairman Mustafa Abdou is enjoying a boom in business amid surging demand for electric fans. Temperatures have risen above 38 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Gaza and frequent power cuts have pushed more and more people to adapt their fans to work by battery. Despite being surrounded by fans, he was sweating as he spoke because his own fan couldn't work due to a power cut. More than 2.3 million people live in the Gaza Strip, the narrow strip of land squeezed between Egypt and Israel.

Persons: Mustafa Abdou, Mohammed Salem, Abdou, Nidal Almughrabi, Susan Fenton Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Gaza City, Mohammed Salem GAZA, Gaza, Gaza Beach, Egypt, Israel

[1/3] Palestinians walk in the street amid a heatwave and lengthy power cuts at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, July 17, 2023. More than 2.3 million people live in a narrow strip of land squeezed between Egypt and Israel, suffering power cuts for up to 12 hours a day. Gaza residents are calling for the local generator to produce more power by operating the plant at full capacity. Thousands packed the beaches, escaping the heat and power cuts at home. Some homes and businesses use generators or solar panels, to overcome the lengthy power cuts.

Persons: Mohammed Salem, Abdel, Hamid Abdel, Israel, Jalal Ismail, Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah, Yasmin Fojo, Um Khattab, Nidal, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Reuters, Gaza Energy Authority, Palestinian Authority, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Gaza City, Mohammed Salem GAZA, Gaza, Egypt, Israel

[1/4] Palestinian Madyan Helles works in his workshop as he turns wasted car tires into environment-friendly materials, in Gaza July 11, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu MustafaGAZA, July 17 (Reuters) - Madyan Helles collects waste car tyres and recycles them into materials that are used as a base layer for artificial grass at sports facilities as well as in agriculture in the impoverished Gaza Strip. "My project preserves the environment and helps reduce environment risks," Helles said, who hopes to expand his business beyond him working on his own. "It must get bigger and absorb all wasted tyres in Gaza Strip so that we can get rid of them safely and properly," he told Reuters. "We used to import rubber granules in the past for high prices, today they are available in Gaza.

Persons: Abu, Helles, Ubayda Nassar, Nassar, Nidal Almughrabi, Alison Williams Organizations: REUTERS, Gaza, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Abu Mustafa GAZA, Gaza City

GAZA, July 16 (Reuters) - The Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers have been unable to pay salaries for 50,000 public sector workers, with officials in part blaming a delay in a monthly payroll grant from Qatar, a crucial aid donor to the impoverished Palestinian enclave. The salary crisis has sparked an unusual amount of criticism on social media in Gaza, including by some of Hamas' own employees. It currently pays $30 million per month in stipends for families, fuel for electricity, and to help pay public sector wages. Hamas officials say no salary aid has been received since just over half of a $5-million grant to support the May payroll. Public sector employees have not received full salaries since 2013.

Persons: Awni Al, Basha, Salama Marouf, Mahmoud Al, Andrew Mills, Nidal Almughrabi, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Qatar, Qatar’s International Media, Hamas, Public, Facebook, Thomson Locations: GAZA, Gaza, Qatar, Doha, Hamas Aqsa, Israel, Farra

[1/8] Palestinian refugee students attend an activity as part of "Fun Weeks" summer camps run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in a school in Beach refugee camp in Gaza City, July 11, 2023. The Palestine children, including those with disabilities, will over four weeks participate in a series of activities including greening, recycling, sports, drawing, handicrafts, and language learning, the agency said. UNRWA runs 284 schools in Gaza, serving at least 290,000 students. The activity creates around 3,000 short-term jobs for Gaza youth, UNRWA said. Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, the agency provides public services including schools, primary healthcare, and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

Persons: Mohammed Salem, Thomas White, Joanna El, Halabi, Nidal Almughrabi, Devika Organizations: United Nations Relief, Works Agency, REUTERS, United Nations, Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA Affairs, Reuters, Gaza, UNRWA, West Bank, Thomson Locations: Beach, Gaza City, Mohammed Salem GAZA, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, East, Egypt, Jabalia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon

GAZA, July 3 (Reuters) - Walaa Hammad has found a niche repairing mobile phones from her home, offering services to other women in the conservative Palestinian enclave of Gaza who fear allowing male technicians access to their photos and social media accounts. "There is privacy for women to come and repair their mobile phones. Even men can come and ask me to fix the phones of their wives and sisters because they fear for their privacy and the photos," said Hammad. Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border. Those restrictions have devastated Gaza's economy and left many of its women, like Hammad, struggling to find work after graduating from college.

Persons: Walaa Hammad, Hammad, Wafaa Abu, Nidal, Gareth Jones Organizations: Creativity, Gaza, Thomson Locations: GAZA, Gaza, Israel, Egypt

[1/4] A Palestinian rides a cart drawn by a horse wearing a diaper, to keep the Gaza streets clean, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu MustafaGAZA, June 13 (Reuters) - On the crowded streets of Gaza, horse-drawn carts continue to carry goods and agricultural produce, providing a vital service but creating a sanitary problem that one group wants to solve with diaper-style bags to keep the roads clear of manure. As well as the smell and flies they attracts, piles of manure are an unsightly blight, said municipal sanitary worker Saher Khattab, who drives a horse-drawn cart to collect garbage. "We are keen to preserve a clean environment, keep our streets clean, and maintain a civilized situation," said Anwar Al-Ghawash, one of a group of activists promoting the initiative in Deir Al-Balah town in the southern Gaza Strip. Reporting by Nidal AlmughrabiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Abu, Saher Khattab, Anwar Al, Nidal Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Palestinian, Gaza, Deir Al, Abu Mustafa GAZA, Balah

[1/5] A Palestinian girl walks past a graffiti drawn by Palestinian artists on a house destroyed by Israel, in recent Israeli-Gaza fighting, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu MustafaGAZA, June 12 (Reuters) - Graffiti artists in Gaza have painted murals on the remains of houses destroyed in an Israeli missile strike during cross-border fighting in May. Israel killed six senior Islamic Jihad commanders and said it destroyed a number of military installations. In Israel, two people - an Israeli woman and a Palestinian labourer - were killed by Palestinian rocket fire in Israel. "One missile destroyed a neighbourhood and destroyed the lives of ten families who used to live here."

Persons: Abu, Hussein Abu Sadeq, Mohammad Thuraya, Nidal Almughrabi, William Maclean Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Jihad, Islamic, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Deir Al, Abu Mustafa GAZA, Deir, Egypt, Iranian, Israeli, Palestinian

[1/5] A lion is seen inside an enclosure at NAMA Zoo in Gaza June 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed SalemGAZA, June 6 (Reuters) - Large paintings of a bear, an elephant and a giraffe decorate the outer walls of NAMA Zoo in Gaza City, but none of these wild creatures is represented live among those caged inside. There were once six zoos in Gaza, a narrow coastal enclave which has been closed off behind security walls since 2007. The original animals at the zoo were smuggled through tunnels from Egypt over a decade ago. Gaza lacks the medical facilities to treat animals like lions and tigers.

Persons: Mohammed Salem, Mahmoud Al, Sultan, Fouad Saleh, Nidal Almughrabi, Bernadette Baum Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Mohammed Salem GAZA, NAMA Zoo, Gaza City, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, South Africa

The caller was an Israeli officer who ordered them to evacuate the house five minutes before they bombed it. The cousin, Hussam Nabhan, 45, tried to stall with the officer, telling him the house included disabled people, but it was all in vain, he said. "The house was the girls' shelter, they had got a disabled toilet, wheelchairs, a bed to sleep. "How am I going to carry her after the wheeler was gone, also the (healthy) mattresses were gone," she added. Its borders are sealed off by neighbouring Israel and Egypt, citing security concerns with Hamas, which runs the territory.

In 2014, during a previous round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, the Bashir's home was also hit. "They destroyed our homes before and we rebuilt it, and this time we will rebuild it too," she added. According to officials from Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, the latest round of Israeli air strikes, which began on Tuesday, have destroyed 15 residential blocks, containing more than 50 apartments. "Prior to these strikes, the Israeli Defence Forces took every feasible measure to mitigate harm to civilians as much as possible," the Israeli military said. "We stress that the residential blocks destroyed by the occupation were inhabited by civilians.

GAZA, April 28 (Reuters) - The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Thursday it would stop receiving fundraising via the crypto currency bitcoin, a method it has used for years, citing an increase in "hostile" activity against donors. Hamas had endorsed crypto as a fundraising method for years, previously developing sophisticated tactics to solicit bitcoin donations. Iran has also always been a major financial and military backer of the group, according to officials from both sides. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain and the European Union. In 2020, the U.S. broke up efforts by the military wing of Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State to raise funds via cryptocurrency, seizing some $2 million worth of crypto.

"We have seen things we had never seen before. Sudan has long been a popular destination for Palestinian students, attracted by relatively low tuition fees and the ease of obtaining a visa. "My son told me he and his friends had to walk out of the place in the dark and they saw bodies scattered in the streets," Moussa told Reuters. Speaking by phone aboard the bus leaving Khartoum on Tuesday, his son Mohammad told Reuters his future was in jeopardy. "To be able to finish my studies, war has to stop," said Mohammad, who was in the final year of his course.

[1/5] A Palestinian Christian man Ehab Ayyad offers dates and water to Muslims held up in traffic or getting late for home to break their fast during Ramadan, in Gaza City April 12, 2023. For those unlucky enough to miss breaking the fast altogether as they stand in solid traffic, Ehab Ayyad is a welcome sight. The Christian man from Gaza offers dates and water to Muslims held up in traffic or late home to break their fast, in keeping with the Prophet's tradition. Five years ago, Ayyad began by offering neighbours dates and water, the first thing Muslims normally eat when they end their fast at sunset, and decided to make the offer general. "On our holidays, our Muslim neighbours come to visit and congratulate us, and we do the same on their holidays," Ayyad said.

☆ Ramadan soccer league brings a bit of joy to Gaza refugee camp
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Young Palestinian men play football during the holy month of Ramadan, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu MustafaRAFAH, Gaza Strip, April 5 (Reuters) - Soccer fans in the Gaza Strip gather to watch the specially organised Ramadan Popular League, a competition held every year in the Rafah refugee camp which is home to over 120,000 people in the southern part of the coastal enclave. "Every year during Ramadan month we come to watch this league, it brings us joy and happiness," said Issa Shaloula. "As players of clubs we come to these popular fields to please the crowds," said Ahmed El-Loulahy, who plays for Khadamat Rafah Club. "This ground is more popular than many other stadiums, it is a playground for refugees.

[1/5] Palestinians relatives of Sabreen Abu Jazar, who died when a boat carrying migrants sank offshore Greece, mourn in her family home in Gaza Strip March 3, 2023. After leaving Gaza in February, via Egypt, Sabreen flew to Turkey where she met her husband, who had migrated to Belgium years ago. "I celebrated her as a bride, now she's returned to me in a coffin," said her mother-in-law Buthayna Abu Jazar. In an effort to promote security along its Gaza border, Israel offers some 20,000 permits to allow Gazans to work in Israel. In Gaza, Hamas says a permanent solution for unemployment is beyond its ability alone.

[1/4] A Palestinian man carries flowers in an agricultural greenhouse in Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, February 12, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu MustafaGAZA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Valentine's Day is considered un-Islamic by many of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and business was slower than usual on Tuesday at those shops selling red roses, fluffy hearts and teddy bears. While Hamas doesn't prevent Valentine's Day commerce, some clerics have in the past roamed the streets, urging people and store owners to eschew what they deem a Western rite. Picking up a bouquet of her favourite flowers, Palestinian Nehaya Jarada said she was determined to enjoy the day nevertheless. "I still want to celebrate Valentine's Day, despite the wars we live through and the earthquake," she said.

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