Israeli air strikes

Gazans visit the ruins of Al-Baqa Cafe, Gaza City, after Israeli forces dropped a 500lb bomb on the site, June 30, 2025. (Omar El Qataa)

Gaza’s Al-Baqa Cafe was a sanctuary amid the genocide. Now it lies in ruins

With a 500lb bomb, Israel destroyed a beloved seaside cafe that offered rare respite for journalists and residents. Gazans remember the dozens killed.

By Ruwaida Amer July 3, 2025

Palestinians fleeing Jabalia camp arrive in Gaza City, October 6, 2024. (Omar El-Qataa)

‘Dead bodies everywhere’ in Jabalia camp as Israel besieges northern Gaza

Gazans in the north are trapped in their homes as Israel launches a new military operation, threatening hospitals and shooting at fleeing residents.

By Ibrahim Mohammad and Mahmoud Mushtaha October 10, 2024

Asser and Aysal Abu Al-Qumsan, killed when they were four days old. (Courtesy of Muhammad Abu Al-Qumsan)

The Gazan infants who never saw their first birthday

For thousands of Palestinian parents, the joy of giving birth rapidly turned to grief when their newborn babies were killed by Israel's bombardment.

By Ibrahim Mohammad September 18, 2024

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Baraa Rantisi posing at Flavor Cake, the bakery he owns in Gaza City which suffered losses due to the May war on Gaza, September 2, 2021. (Mohammed Zaanoun)

Those of us who survived in Gaza are buried in the fear of loss

Months after the last war ravaged their life-long enterprises, three Palestinian business owners open up about the difficulties of mustering the strength to recover yet again.

By Fidaa Shurrab September 6, 2021

A Palestinian child seen in the wreckage of a neighborhood in Gaza following an Israeli airstrike, May 12, 2012. (Mohammed Zaanoun)

In Gaza, we are forced to choose between a quick or slow death

Nobody in Gaza misses the sight of horror and bloodshed. But under Israel's siege, we are bleeding whether or not there is a war.

By Ismail May 12, 2021

Palestinians look on at the remains of the Yaziji building in Gaza City, following air strikes by the Israeli Air Force. Yaziji served as both a residential and commercial building, and was home to around 40 families, November 13, 2018. (Mohammad Zaanoun/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: 24 hours of destruction in Gaza and southern Israel

Israel and Palestinian militants exchanged rocket and missile fire on Monday night, following a botched Israeli commando incursion into the Strip a day earlier. By Tuesday evening, the two sides had announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, but not before at least seven people, all of them Palestinian, were killed, and many others wounded in both Israel and Gaza. By Mohammed Zaanoun and Oren Ziv…

By Activestills November 13, 2018

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman speaks during a Yisrael Beitenu meeting at the Knesset, May 23, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

By flexing his muscles, Liberman gives Gaza’s radicals a boost

This week’s air strikes allowed Defense Minister Liberman to demonstrate to the Israeli public that not even the smallest violation of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will be tolerated. The Israeli air raids on Gaza overnight Sunday were the largest in scope and impact since the 2014 war. This was enough to set tongues wagging about the…

By Dimi Reider August 24, 2016

Protesters gather in Tel Aviv's Rabin Squre to demonstrate against the Gaza war. (photo: Activestills.org)

Beyond protest: War and the Israeli Left

This article first appeared in Dissent Magazine. Many Israelis who define themselves as “on the left” (about 20 percent of the population on a good day) support Operation Protective Edge. It’s a small and lonely subset that is both left wing and opposes the war. Over the last month, this little constituency has faithfully staged…

By Dahlia Scheindlin July 30, 2014

Palestinians walk out with belongings in Shujaiyeh, a neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, during a ceasefire, July 27, 2014. During the ceasefire on 26 July, many Palestinians went back to Shujaiyeh to inspect the damages together with medics who attempted to rescue injured or collect bodies. Dozens of bodies were collected but many remain as Palestinians do not have all the necessary equipment to dig. Israeli attacks turned the neighborhood into a scene of utter devastation, with entire buildings flattened and thousands forced to flee. Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and injured around 5,000 in the current offensive. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Gazans use ‘ceasefire’ to pick up the pieces

Photos and text: Anne Paq, Basel Yazouri / Activestills.org Tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes across the Gaza Strip on July 26, after a 40-hour humanitarian ceasefire was agreed to between Israel and Hamas. Over 200,000 Gazans have been displaced since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, due to Israeli airstrikes across…

By Activestills July 27, 2014

Medics at the Al-Shifa hospital mourn their colleague targeted and killed in Shejaiya neighbourhood earlier today, July 20, 2014. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Palestinian human rights leader: ‘Cast Lead was a joke compared to this’

LISTEN: Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard speak to Raji Sourani, founder and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, about the ongoing destruction in Shujaiyeh, the use of human shields and the fate of Gaza’s civilian population. By Michael Sfard and Raji Sourani Raji Sourani: Hello Michael Sfard: Raji? This is Michael. Can you…

By +972 Magazine July 20, 2014

Gazans flee the Shejaiya area after Israeli tanks invaded the area, bombarding it heavily, causing over 60 casualties and hundreds wounded, July 20, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Scenes of devastation from deadliest day in Gaza

Israel bombards the Gaza City neighborhood of Shujaiyeh, killing at least 66, with the toll expected to rise. Photos by: Anne Paq and Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org Text by: Noa Yachot [WARNING: This post includes graphic photos.] Israel stepped up its air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, resulting in the deadliest day since…

By Activestills July 20, 2014

A child stands amid the rubble of the Al Dalu family home, Gaza City, December 3, 2012. Ten members of the Al Dalu family were killed, as well as two neighbors, by an Israeli air strike on their three-story home on November 18, 2012. Four of those killed were children, and four were women.

Gaza ground invasion: Shedding the pretense of ‘precision’

The real aim was to annihilate anything within marching distance of the border – including, it turns out, a hospital housing elderly patients and international activists there to protect them. When he launched his war on Gaza 10 days ago, Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his military commanders to “take the gloves off.” Yesterday, they put on…

By Samer Badawi July 18, 2014

Israeli tanks on the border with Gaza. (photo: Activestills)

Israeli army launches ground invasion of Gaza Strip

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli army to begin a ground incursion into Gaza on Thursday night. According to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon called for the ground operation in order to damage underground tunnels leading into Israeli territory. The move came just hours…

By Edo Konrad July 17, 2014