Latest news with #GazaCity
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Health
- Arab News
62 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, say Gaza rescuers
GAZA CITY: Gaza's civil defense agency said that Israeli forces killed at least 62 people on Friday, including 10 who were waiting for aid in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The reported killing of people seeking aid marks the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid sites in Gaza, where a US- and Israeli-backed foundation has largely replaced established humanitarian organizations. Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said that 62 Palestinians had been killed on Friday by Israeli strikes or fire across the Palestinian territory. When asked for comment, the Israeli military said it was looking into the incidents, and denied its troops fired in one of the locations in central Gaza where rescuers said one aid seeker was killed. People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence. Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general Bassal said that six people were killed in southern Gaza near one of the distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and one more in a separate incident in the center of the territory, where the army denied shooting 'at all.' Another three people were killed by a strike while waiting for aid southwest of Gaza City, Bassal said. The Health Ministry in the territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies. GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. Medical charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF on Friday slammed the GHF relief effort, calling it 'slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.' It noted that in the week of June 8, shortly after GHF opened a distribution site in central Gaza's Netzarim corridor, the MSF field hospital in nearby Deir Al-Balah saw a 190 percent increase in bullet wound cases compared to the previous week. Aitor Zabalgogeaskoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, said in a statement that, under how the distribution centers currently operate: 'If people arrive early and approach the checkpoints, they get shot.' 'If they arrive on time, but there is an overflow and they jump over the mounds and the wires, they get shot.' 'If they arrive late, they shouldn't be there because it is an 'evacuated zone', they get shot,' he added. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the US-backed aid operation in Gaza is 'inherently unsafe,' giving a blunt assessment: 'It is killing people.' He also said UN-led humanitarian efforts are being 'strangled,' aid workers themselves are starving and Israel — as the occupying power — is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout the Palestinian enclave. 'People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,' Guterres said. Meanwhile, Bassal said that 10 people were killed in five separate Israeli strikes near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, east of which he said 'continuous Israeli artillery shelling' was reported on Friday. Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said they shelled an Israeli vehicle east of Khan Younis on Friday. The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said they had attacked a group of Israeli soldiers north of Khan Younis in coordination with the Al-Qassam Brigades. Bassal added that 30 people were killed in six separate strikes in northern Gaza on Friday, including a fisherman who was targeted 'by Israeli warships.' He specified that eight of them were killed 'after an Israeli airstrike hit Osama Bin Zaid School, which was housing displaced people' in northern Gaza. In central Gaza's Al-Bureij refugee camp, 12 people were killed in two separate Israeli strikes, Bassal said. The 50th medic from the Palestine Red Crescent has been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, the PRCS said on Friday in a statement. Haitham Bassam Abu Issa, a nurse at the PRCS clinic in Deir Al-Balah in the center of the Gaza strip, was killed while off duty on Thursday, the PRCS said. 'This brings the total number of PRCS staff and volunteers killed during the conflict to 50 – a deeply shocking figure,' the PRCS said. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and witnesses. Israel's military said it was continuing its operations in Gaza on Friday, after army chief Eyal Zamir announced earlier in the week that the focus would again shift to the territory. The Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,331 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The UN considers its figures reliable.
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- Health
- News.com.au
Gaza rescuers say 62 killed by Israeli forces
Gaza's civil defence agency said that Israeli forces killed at least 62 people on Friday, including 10 who were waiting for aid in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The reported killing of people seeking aid marks the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid sites in Gaza, where a US- and Israeli-backed foundation has largely replaced established humanitarian organisations. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 62 Palestinians had been killed Friday by Israeli strikes or fire across the Palestinian territory. When asked by AFP for comment, the Israeli military said it was looking into the incidents, and denied its troops fired in one of the locations in central Gaza where rescuers said one aid seeker was killed. Bassal told AFP that six people were killed in southern Gaza near one of the distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and one more in a separate incident in the centre of the territory, where the army denied shooting "at all". Another three people were killed by a strike while waiting for aid southwest of Gaza City, Bassal said. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centres while seeking scarce supplies. GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. - 'Slaughter' - Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday slammed the GHF relief effort, calling it "slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid". It noted that in the week of June 8, shortly after GHF opened a distribution site in central Gaza's Netzarim corridor, the MSF field hospital in nearby Deir el-Balah saw a 190 percent increase in bullet wound cases compared to the previous week. Aitor Zabalgogeaskoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, said in a statement that under the way in which the distribution centres currently operate: "If people arrive early and approach the checkpoints, they get shot." "If they arrive on time, but there is an overflow and they jump over the mounds and the wires, they get shot". "If they arrive late, they shouldn't be there because it is an 'evacuated zone', they get shot," he added. Meanwhile, Bassal said that ten people were killed in five separate Israeli strikes near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, east of which he said "continuous Israeli artillery shelling" was reported Friday. Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said they shelled an Israeli vehicle east of Khan Yunis Friday. The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas-ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said they had attacked a group of Israeli soldiers north of Khan Yunis in coordination with the Al-Qassam Brigades. Bassal added that thirty people were killed in six separate strikes in northern Gaza on Friday, including a fisherman who was targeted "by Israeli warships". He specified that eight of them were killed "after an Israeli air strike hit Osama Bin Zaid School, which was housing displaced persons" in northern Gaza. In central Gaza's al-Bureij refugee camp, 12 people were killed in two separate Israeli strikes, Bassal said. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and witnesses. Israel's military said it was continuing its operations in Gaza on Friday, after army chief Eyal Zamir announced earlier in the week that the focus would again shift to the territory after a 12-day war with Iran. Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,331 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
Al Jazeera
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
In an age of abundance and ceasefires, Gaza starves, and the war won't stop
Gaza City – Israel and Iran fought for 12 days, firing bombs, drones and missiles at each other, with the United States even joining in the bombing. Then, earlier this week, it stopped. Last month, India and Pakistan attacked each other, and the world feared the outbreak of an all-out war between the two nuclear powers. But then, after four days, it stopped. In Gaza, we haven't been so lucky. The word 'ceasefire' doesn't apply to us – even after 20 months of slaughter, death, and starvation. Instead, as wars erupt and end elsewhere, Gaza is neglected, slipping down the news agenda, and disconnected from the internet for days. World leaders that can end wars decisively can't deliver medicine to Gaza, can't bring in food aid without daily bloodshed. That inadequacy has left us Palestinians in Gaza isolated, abandoned, and feeling worthless. We feel humiliated and degraded, as if our dignity has been erased. We prayed that the end of the war between Israel and Iran would perhaps help end the one that is being waged on us. But we were wrong. Even as Iran's missiles rained down on Tel Aviv, Israel never stopped bombing us. Its tanks rolled on, its evacuation orders never ceased. And the daily charade of 'humanitarian aid' has continued to kill starving Palestinians as they wait in line at distribution sites. As Israel's bombs continued to fall on us, as they have done since October 2023, we watched as Israelis wept over their own bombed hospitals, damaged cities, and disrupted lives. 'What did we do? Why are we being bombed?' they asked, at the same time as they continued to attack Gaza's hospitals, kill Gaza's children, and murder those trying to get food. Hating food In Gaza, we don't have wishes any more. I don't dare to dream about surviving – my heart can no longer bear the sorrow of being in this world, the absence of any future. We're exhausted from being stories people read, videos they watch. Every minute: bombing, death, and hunger. Especially hunger. During three months of siege and starvation, Israel initially steadfastly refused to allow food in and then allowed distribution only through a shady and militarised organisation, with Israeli forces shooting in. The situation has made me come to hate food. My relationship with it has forever changed, twisted into resentment and bitterness. I crave everything. I ask myself, 'What will we eat? What do we have available?' I imagine myself at a table full of delicacies, throwing everything onto the ground in protest, screaming through tears not out of hunger, but for my wounded dignity. It is this hunger and the basic human instinct to survive that drives tens of thousands of starving men, women and children to the daily slaughter that is the food distribution sites. The hunger dulls every other sense. An empty stomach means an empty mind, a failing body. It makes you do things your brain tells you not to do, to risk everything for a bag of flour, or a bag of lentils. And all of this – the starvation of 2 million people – takes place in the age of global food abundance. The age of pistachio desserts, Dubai chocolates, cheesecakes with layers of cream, gourmet burgers, pizzas, sauces, and creams. For the rest of the world, food is a phone tap away. For us, it taunts us, reminding us of our calamity. Taunted by the tablet Every time I open my phone to see photos, recipes, and trending desserts, I feel a pang in my heart reminding me that we are not living in the same world. My nine-year-old daugher Banias watches Instagram reels with me and says, 'Mom, every chef says the ingredients are easy and found in every home … but not ours.' Her words pierce me. She says them with sorrow, not complaint. Banias never complains. She accepts the pasta or lentils I offer. But the pain is there. My children watch kids' shows on a device I bought at great cost, with a backup battery to offset the two-year power blackout. I did it so they could have some joy, some escape. But I didn't consider what that screen would show them. They play songs and videos all day long about apples, bananas, strawberries, watermelon, grapes, milk, eggs, pizza, chicken, ice cream. All the things I can't give them. The device started playing a song: 'Are you hungry?' My heart can't take it. What is this cursed screen doing? I rushed out of the kitchen, where I had just finished cooking the same pasta with canned sauce – maybe for the 50th time. I looked into my children's eyes. Iyas, turning two this month, has never tasted any of these fruits or foods. Banias watches and casually says while eating her pasta, 'See, Mama? Even the dolls get to eat fruit and grapes and yummy stuff.' Every moment here reminds me that the world lives in one reality, and we live in another. Even children's songs aren't made for us any more. We've become an exception to life. An exception to joy. The fear of what comes next And yet, we are still among the 'lucky' ones, because others have run out of food entirely. I felt that growing dread last week when I opened my last kilo of rice. Fear and despair overwhelmed me. Then, it was the last spoon of milk, then lentils, chickpeas, cornstarch, halva, tomato sauce, the last cans of beans, peas, bulghur. Our stocks are vanishing. There are no replacements. Every empty shelf feels like a blow to the soul. If this famine continues, what comes next? It's like walking step by step towards death. Every day without a solution brings us closer to a deeper mass starvation. Every trip to the market that ends empty-handed feels like a dagger to the heart. And that is just the food struggle. What if I told you about cooking on firewood? Fetching water from distant desalination stations, most of which have shut down? Walking for hours without transport? The cash shortage? Skyrocketing fees and prices? All this, under the shadow of constant Israeli air strikes. We've disappeared from the headlines, but our suffering remains — layered, worsening by the day. What did Gaza do to deserve this erasure, this merciless genocide? Wars end everywhere, ceasefires are possible anywhere. But for Gaza, we need a miracle for the war to stop. Gaza will not forgive the world. The blood of our children and their starving bellies will not forget. We write to record what is happening, not to plead with anyone. Gaza, the land of dignity and generosity, lives a daily horror to survive. And all while the world watches on.
Al Bawaba
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
Gaza's tribal leaders restore order amid aid crisis
ALBAWABA — Palestinian groups in Gaza have taken it upon themselves to guard and guide humanitarian aid convoys. They are doing this in response to what they say are planned Israeli attempts to cause chaos and stop the delivery of aid. Also Read Pentagon defends Iran strikes as 'legendary' amid leaked doubts Since Israel started letting some aid back into Gaza in late May, scenes of violence and chaos have made it hard to get essential goods to people who need them. Israeli troops are said to have opened fire near groups of people waiting for food aid because they were afraid that Hamas would take control of the shipments. These claims have been denied by the UN, which says that Israel's limits make relocation and suffering worse and make humanitarian aid political. As the crisis and lack of food got worse, Gaza's tribe leaders started a community-led effort to make sure that aid trucks got to stores safely, skipping the long lines and getting the goods to those who need them. Their hard work paid off on Wednesday, when food convoys were able to get into Gaza City. It was the first time that distribution went smoothly since aid started again. A member of the Palestinian Tribal and Clans Council named Alaa Al-Aklouk told Al Jazeera Net that this plan was organized with UN OCHA and shared with the Israeli side. He stressed how important it was for everyone in the community to work together to stop the famine and keep the peace as people were getting more and more desperate. The project got backing from many groups, such as the Gaza Private Transport Association. Nahid Shuheibar, the country's president, said that tribe planning was a big part of getting things back to normal and called for the model to be used in central and southern Gaza as well. But Israeli leaders responded quickly. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would step down if aid entry wasn't stopped, saying that the goods were getting into the hands of Hamas without any proof. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the troops they had 48 hours to come up with a plan to stop any more help from getting to Hamas. الحمد لله رب العالمين ابشركمالعشائر الفلسطينية تقوم بتأمين دخول عشرات شاحنات المساعدات إلى المخازن بسلام دون سرقتها وتعد أهل غزة بمزيد من المفاجآت خلال الايام القادمة.. يارب فرجك
The Guardian
20 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
A street in Gaza, a map of dreams, and the people desperate to live
Before it was bombed into a long grey line of rubble and dust cutting across Gaza City, Omar al-Mukhtar street was full of life – shoppers in the day, friends and families on evening outings after dark. Running from east to west through the city, this artery road is home to some of Gaza's most significant landmarks. It connects the city's historical sites to the centre of modern commercial activity and leads down towards the port, which has for centuries been crucial to life in Gaza. Heavily damaged in Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza, in which 56,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the health ministry, the area around Omar al-Mukhtar is now crowded with people who have fled from parts of Gaza City which are now entirely flattened. For the repeatedly displaced people of this city, the street is where many still return, trying to bring it back to life. Here we look at some of the places that made up this main artery of Gaza City, seeing them through the eyes of those who live there, fighting to survive. Capital Mall shopping centre The Capital Mall opened its doors in 2017. It had clothing, perfume, home goods and mobile phone shops, a bookshop and food court. For Gaza's middle class youth, it was the place to hang out and be seen. Yousef Eljojo, a 21-year-old architecture student, drew the mall from memory and posted it on Instagram at the beginning of this year. You can see it in the video above. 'I try to remember the buildings, the streets, the trees – I draw what I used to live. We were never just numbers. We are people who had dreams like you, hopes to fulfil. We had warm and safe homes. 'Now, we are trying to rise again. I am studying architecture remotely, without resources like electricity or internet. I look at my papers with a burning heart, will they remain blank? Or will I colour them once again?' The conditions in Gaza have worsened significantly since he made that drawing and posted it on Instagram. 'We don't even have a single loaf of bread at home. The price of one kilo of flour is 90 shekels, which is about $26 [£20], and therefore a single loaf of bread costs $25. We're talking about a war that has been going on for nearly two years. So, those who once had thousands of dollars now have absolutely nothing,' he says. The city has become more like a jungle. It used to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We were very happy – we used to go to university, learn, go on leisure trips and night camping in open areas. We also used to have money, and life was good 'We were never used to life in tents, or chasing after a bag of flour, or standing in long lines for food distribution. We were the ones distributing food before the war. We were never used to such a miserable life. 'I don't know if I will die, or if the war will end, or if we will leave the country. But in all cases, I will be very happy.' Eljojo remembers a stationery shop called Pens & Pins where he used to get his drawing materials. The shop reopened in February and is still operating but Capital Mall itself has not survived, he says. 'It's difficult for it to operate at this stage. It needs generators that require a massive amount of fuel. It also has empty restaurants and cafes – there's nothing in them except the equipment. The building is completely shut down and no one enters it.' Islamic University of Gaza With 17,000 students, the Islamic University of Gaza was one of three large universities around Omar al-Mukhtar street. It was bombed on 10 October 2023 by the Israeli forces who posted a video of the destruction. According to the official university website, 19 buildings and 500 classrooms across the three campuses were completely destroyed. The main auditorium, which once staged joyful graduation ceremonies, is now a refuge for displaced people. Students have scattered. Aya Talb was a medical student. She has wanted to be a doctor since she was 10, when her parents were ill and didn't have the money to get the treatment they needed: 'I believed with all my heart that once I became a doctor, I would help my family's suffering.' But that happiness was short-lived. Just one week after she started her studies the war began and with it, a whole new chapter of unbearable suffering. Her home was bombed and she has been living in a tent with her family since August 2024. Talb and her family are struggling with the the current blockade as they cannot get enough food and have to bake bread using spoiled flour. What's worse is when hunger is accompanied by illness in a deadly way, with the spread of fleas, scabies and contaminated water, all while food is completely absent She still managed to complete a full year of medical school under bombardment. 'Countless times, I studied while lying flat on the ground under a tent roof, terrified of the bullets flying around us. In addition to the unbearable hunger we experienced, I walked hundreds of metres just to find an internet connection so I could attend lectures and take exams. I completed that year as if I were carving through stone with my bare nails.' She says she hasn't been able to register for a second year of online study because she doesn't have the tuition fees. 'My family and I are forced to prioritise using our limited money to buy spoiled and infested flour, to purchase firewood so we can cook, and – worse yet – to pay for transportation just to move from one place to another during forced displacement. 'You might laugh at me, but honestly, what's worse than hunger was having to run from one street to another just to find internet access, and then checking what each professor had posted for their course. The internet access lasted only three to four hours for a fee, so I would download the lectures from YouTube and watch them later in my tent, using a small phone that survived the bombing of our home.' Abdullah Salama lives in Rimal, Gaza City. He earned a bachelor's degree in maths in 2020 and was pursuing a master's in data science when the war started. He couldn't continue after the university was bombed multiple times. He remembers the many hours he used to spend in its beautiful gardens and says the university was ranked 68th globally in terms of green space. I was passionate about those gardens and used to spend hours there – it felt like a second home to me. When the university was bombed, I grieved just as I did for my own home that was destroyed In July 2024 he resumed his studies, getting online where and when he can. He is in the research phase of his degree, but says some of his friends are watching lectures and submitting assignments and exams online. He walks up to 10km a day to find places that offer electricity generated through the solar panels that were installed before the war. The power is unstable and unreliable. 'We rely on alternative power sources such as solar energy. The internet is also very slow and unstable, which makes it extremely difficult for students to continue their education. This is just one part of the daily struggles we face, alongside finding water, food, and enduring many other hardships. Still, we continue to pursue our education.' The Families Bakery The popular Families Bakery chain used to post photos on its Instagram account of counters full of bread, pastries, cakes and pizza. Treats for every occasion: Ramadan, graduation, breakfast, nights out with the family. The posts stopped in October 2023, and the shops took on greater significance as one of the World Food Programme (WFP)-subsidised bakeries that fed people during the war and the recent blockade. During the brief ceasefire from January to March this year, the bakery received some flour from the WFP and sold it for less than a dollar. Photographer Majdi Fathi, who has been documenting the daily struggles of life during the war on his Instagram account and for international media, took the video above. Many children and people stand in a queue to buy the bread for half a dollar then sell it to others for two dollars Fathi had been displaced from Gaza City, but when the ceasefire happened, he returned alongside thousands of others. 'My house was destroyed during the war in the neighbourhood of Shujaiya and now I am having to rent a house.' Throughout the war, keeping bakeries open has been a battle. People rely heavily on bread for sustenance and bakery ovens are often one of the only places families short of fuel can cook. The Families Bakery had to shut down again after the closure of all crossings into Gaza in March stopped supplies stock of flour, yeast and cooking gas. When aid convoys were allowed back in after more than 80 days of Israeli blockade in mid-May, some of the bakeries resumed bread production, but according to a WFP report, 'due to the lack of food and desperation of the population, situations of insecurity forced the bakeries to close'. Abdel Nasser al-Ajrami, who owns the Families Bakery and is the head of the bakery owners' association in Gaza, told The New Arab on 27 May that, before the war: ' …about one hundred and forty bakeries were operated, but the Israeli army destroyed about 90 and left only 50. Around 25 bakeries are working with the WFP, and we have no news about dozens of them'. He also told the UN: 'The situation is extremely dangerous because people have no alternatives. They can't bake because they don't have electricity, energy, gas or fuel. The situation is extremely tough. Ask any citizen, and you will find out that they want to cry because of the tough situation they are living in: 'I will die of hunger alongside my children.' They have no alternative for bakeries.' Falafel Sousi Before the war, a short walk away from the bakery, one shekel (about 20p) could have bought someone a falafel sandwich at one of Falafel Sousi's several restaurants across Gaza City, including a couple on Omar al-Mukhtar street. 'The heart of Gaza City, which had pulsated with life, was now lifeless,' says a Palestinian influencer with the TikTok handle mta3mgaza. They used to uploaded videos reviewing restaurants in Gaza, but says Omar al-Moukhtar street, once made vibrant by the restaurants that lined it, is now decimated. Even the animals were dead and lying in the streets. The smell of death rose up from where bodies could not be retrieved from the rubble Majdi Fathi photographed a branch of the shop as it attempted to reopen during the brief ceasefire. He found a throng of people queueing for a sandwich even though the prices had soared, with falafel costing about five times as much as before. 'The crowd of people jostling at Falafel Sousi was because of the closure of the crossings for 52 days, when no food or vegetables were coming in. Gaza is empty of food, whatever is available is very expensive,' says Fathi. Today, the shop might open for a few days then has to close again because of the lack of resources. 'Falafel is now five shekels because chickpeas have become expensive and the sellers need firewood to cook because there is no gas supply,' says Fathi. Omari mosque The 7th-century Omari mosque, known as the Great Mosque, is Gaza's oldest and largest. Only metres from it sits one of the world's oldest active churches. In their vicinity are a gold market and traditional bathhouse, both centuries old. These buildings formed part of Gaza's old city and are the most significant cultural landmarks of a city that, contrary to the struggles of recent years, was historically wealthy because of its port's strategic location. The image of Omari mosque's minaret cut down by bombing in December 2023 hurt many Gazans – a terrible example of cultural history being destroyed. Once spanning an area of about 1,100 sq metres, the mosque's usable space has been reduced to just 300 sq metres due to damage caused by Israeli attacks. So when the ceasefire began and allowed many people to return to Gaza City, the youth began cleaning up the rubble so that prayers could begin again and by Ramadan they had constructed a temporary hall for nightly evening prayers. 'It was business as usual for Ramadan in Omari, the mosque was filled with worshippers remembering God,' says a member of the team's management. They also had plans to accommodate more worshippers during the last 10 days of Ramadan but those were put on hold when Israel ended the ceasefire and began a new military operation. Port of Gaza In the mornings, Gaza City's port would be busy with fishers heading out to sea and returning with whatever they could catch from within the confines of an Israel-imposed fishing zone to sell at the city's fish market. In the evening, families would arrive with flasks of tea and snacks to sit down and look out to sea. For many, the sea offered a form of escape from more than a decade of blockade in Gaza that prevented them from travelling. Even now, Gaza City resident Bader al-Zaharna returns to the coast when he needs a break but the view is very different, he says: I look at the beach and there are tents everywhere – it's a reminder of what's happened to us The port has become a makeshift refuge for thousands of displaced Palestinians that have sought refuge there and are facing harsh conditions living in tents without electricity or clean water. More than 90% of Gaza's fishing boats, fishers' storage and equipment have been destroyed. At least 4,500 fishers and 1,500 workers have lost their only source of income. They are also at risk: at least 202 people working in the fishing industry have been killed, 50 of them at sea. Fisher Zaki al-Najjar, who lost his brother in an Israeli attack, gave an account to UN officials: 'Every day we go out to sea, we stare death in the face. We bring back fish stained with blood, just to feed our children. Despite everything, we will never give up the sea. This is our livelihood, and we will hold on to it at any cost.'
