What does life look like in Gaza after both the Israeli army and the media leave?
Photos and Text: Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
People in Gaza are lost and uncertain. They cannot fathom what happened to them, and they cannot predict what might happen in the few next days. People whose houses were destroyed are living in schools. Those whose houses are still standing or damaged came back to live in them, but don’t know how long they can stay. Many even went back to living in schools out of fear that the ceasefire will end.
In Beit Hanoun, people are doing nothing – just waiting for news. They haven’t cleaned their houses or done the normal tasks of daily life. They just returned to their houses because living in the schools is too difficult.
A Palestinian man looks at the ruins of Beit Hanoun, North Gaza Strip, August 11, 2014. According to OCHA, 16,800 homes in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or severely damaged,while 370,000 displaced people went to live in UNRWA government shelters or with other families. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian woman walks between the ruins of Beit Hanoun, North Gaza Strip, August 12, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Palestinians retrieve whatever belongings they can carry from their homes in Beit Hanoun, North Gaza Strip, August 12, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Destruction in Beit Hanoun following bombardment by the Israeli military, North Gaza Strip, August 11, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Destruction in Beit Hanoun following bombardment by Israeli forces, North Gaza Strip, August 11, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Gazans who evacuated their houses live in makeshift tents at Al-Shifa Hospital, August 9, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Palestinians shop for food in Gaza City during a ceasefire, August 6, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Gazans who evacuated their houses to find emergency shelter try to go on with the activities of daily life, Al-Shifa Hospital, August 9, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Al-Shifa Hospital, August 9, 2014. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health (as of August 10), 9,986 Palestinians, including 3,009 children and 359 elderly, have been injured. The death toll in Gaza has reached 1,965 Palestinians, including 1,417 civilians, of whom 458 are children and 238 are women. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Gazans walk on streets in darkness after the Israeli bombing of the main electricity plant caused a continuous 7-day power cut throughout the Gaza Strip, August 9, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Related:
Gaza dispatch: When tanks shell refugee camps
PHOTOS: Gaza’s half-million internally displaced
Refugees once again: Gazans who lost their home wonder what’s next
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza.
We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.
Can we count on your support ? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.
