WorldcrunchMohammed Abu Shahma is a palestinian journalist who writes for Daraj.
As famine grips Gaza under Israel’s blockade, drones drop cartons of cigarettes and hookah tobacco into the Strip. Lebanon-based journalism platform Daraj investigates the perverse profiteering that thrives in war zones, exposing how tobacco continues to flow even as food and medicine are denied.
While the U.S. President has mostly focused on his real estate vision of a new “Riviera” along the coastal enclave, there are also untapped off-shore gas fields that Trump may be after.
With many of Gaza’s banks and ATMs destroyed, Palestinians are turning to money brokers to obtain cash — and paying commission fees of up to 30% . While the practice is criminalized under the Palestinian law, many say agencies in Gaza are not taking action against the brokers, allowing their businesses to flourish.
Displaced Palestinians have been returning to northern Gaza following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. Yet no official or international body has provided these refugees with temporary shelters, drinking water or humanitarian aid, despite these provisions being part of the ceasefire agreement. The poor conditions are pushing many to return to the South in a “reverse displacement.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 1,000 healthcare workers have been killed in the war in Gaza. Those on a mission to save lives are losing their own in what some human rights groups say are systemic and targeted attacks on medical facilities in Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority insists that its operation in the Jenin refugee camp was intended to maintain security and thwart any Israeli plans for the West Bank. Yet other Palestinian factions have criticized the move, which comes amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The situation in Gaza has become so dire that Palestinians have observed hungry dogs and cats eating dead bodies on the streets — and even digging up buried corpses — and becoming more aggressive toward people.
Observers believe that the military operations targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid in northern Gaza is the prelude to Israel reoccupying the region and establishing Jewish settlements.
The Israel-Hamas war, now in its 9th month, has made the Eid al-Adha celebrations impossible for the Palestinians in Gaza. They spent the holiday amid relentless bombing, killing and destruction.
Entire Palestinian families have been wiped out over the past seven months in Gaza in Israel’s bombing campaign. Many families resorted to dividing their family members to different places, so at least some of them survive if their houses are bombed.
Besides repeated bombings of school buildings, the Israeli army also has turned many universities into military barracks and interrogation sites, before blowing them up. That’s part of a premeditated policy to destroy Gaza’s entire education system.
The brother of Palestinian journalist Mohamed Abu Shahma chose to return home to Khan Younis despite Israel’s offensive on the city. He paid the ultimate price.
The Israeli blockade of food, water, fuel, and essential medicines and supplies is inflicting immense suffering on Palestinians. Women in the Gaza strip are forced to sell their jewelry to feed their children amid lack of humanitarian aid and soaring prices, reports independent Arab media Daraj.
Displaced people in Gaza accuse aid groups’ representatives of “extortion and theft” in demanding money in exchange for aid packages that are meant to be free donations from governments or NGOs.
Fishermen in war-torn Gaza are risking their lives by entering the Mediterranean despite relentless Israeli naval bombing. They say they have no option to feed their children amid a looming famine in the strip.
Released detainees detail how Israel’s military used them as human shields in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Soldiers would put civilian Palestinians in front of military targets, endangering their lives, according to accounts from recently-released detainees.