Mahmoud Mushtaha

Mahmoud Mushtaha is a freelance journalist and human rights activist from Gaza, currently based in Cairo.

Recent Articles
Displaced Palestinians inspect the damage from an Israeli airstrike, in Al-Mawasi, September 10, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
‘People torn to pieces’ in Israeli airstrike on Gaza displacement camp
Israeli bombs set tents ablaze and left deep craters in the earth as the army attacked Al-Mawasi, a designated 'safe zone', for the fifth time.
By Ruwaida Kamal Amer and Mahmoud Mushtaha September 12, 2024
Palestinians return to their destroyed homes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 30, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
‘We’ve lost everything, for what?’: Gazan anger at Hamas grows as war drags on
Palestinians in Gaza are willing to pay a price for liberation, but many question the rationale and lack of forethought behind Hamas’ October 7 attack.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha August 6, 2024
Palestinians flee the neighborhood of Al-Rimal in response to Israeli evacuation orders, Gaza City, July 8, 2024. (Ferial Abdu)
Israel ordered thousands to ‘safe’ areas in Gaza City — then bombed them
After fleeing west at the Israeli army’s instruction, Palestinians quickly found themselves encircled and under fire from tanks, drones, and snipers.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha July 10, 2024
Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed in an Israeli air strike, in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Can Palestinians imagine a future with Israelis after this war?
My grandfather remembers neighborly relations with Jews before 1948. For Palestinians today, such a prospect seems nearly impossible.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha May 27, 2024
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 7, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
‘The scenes of the Nakba are repeating’: Rafah in panic as Israeli invasion begins
With Israeli forces entering Gaza’s southernmost city, Palestinians describe their hardships and fears in the Strip’s last vanishing refuge.
By Ruwaida Kamal Amer and Mahmoud Mushtaha May 8, 2024
Palestinians fleeing from the fighting in parts of Khan Younis to Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, January 26, 2024. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)
I got out of Gaza. But I’m still trapped by the war
I left my family in Shuja’iya, crossed an Israeli army checkpoint, and spent weeks in a tent in Rafah in order to leave the Strip. The decision still haunts me.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha April 20, 2024
Palestinians walk amid the rubble of Shuja'iya, northern Gaza, February, 2024. (Mohammed Hajjar)
‘We scream, starve, and die alone’: Life in the ruins of Shuja’iya
Israel’s month-long invasion of the Gaza City neighborhood left behind a trail of devastation. Still under siege, its Palestinian residents are risking death to get their hands on a bag of flour.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha March 16, 2024
Palestinian gather as humanitarian aid arrives on Al-Rashid Street, northern Gaza Strip, February 28, 2024. (Omar El Qattaa)
Survivors of Gaza aid convoy massacre describe ‘indiscriminate’ Israeli fire
Palestinian eyewitnesses say troops shot directly at a starving crowd trying to get flour for their families, killing and wounding many in the mayhem.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha March 5, 2024
Palestinians walk through rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the Jabalia area, northern Gaza Strip, October 11, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)
These words are penned in hunger from northern Gaza. I have little energy to go on
From the daily indignity of searching for food to the extreme dangers of doing journalistic work, life in this dark corner of the earth has become impossible.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha February 29, 2024
Palestinians inspect their destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, February 8, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
‘What use is this court if it can’t stop the war?’ Gazans react to ICJ ruling
Many Palestinians in Gaza feel dismayed by the ICJ’s failure to demand a ceasefire, fearing its provisional measures will do little to halt the bloodshed.
By Mahmoud Mushtaha and Ruwaida Kamal Amer February 9, 2024
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  2. For Israel’s weary army, war in Lebanon is an attempt to salvage its image
  3. What Israelis don’t want to hear about Iran and Hezbollah
  4. Killing Hezbollah leaders failed 30 years ago. It won’t work now
  5. ‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  2. What Israelis don’t want to hear about Iran and Hezbollah
  3. ‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza
  4. Palestine and Lebanon are living the same nightmare. We will rise out of it together
  5. For Israel’s weary army, war in Lebanon is an attempt to salvage its image
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  2. What Israelis don’t want to hear about Iran and Hezbollah
  3. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  4. A plan to liquidate northern Gaza is gaining steam
  5. Under cover of war, Israel is demolishing home after home in Silwan