Israeli politicians, in the run-up to elections, are promising to deal a severe blow to Gaza as this is how Israeli policy is made. However, every household in Gaza is already under siege. In Gaza you can only find pale, angry and frustrated faces. If you visit my house you won’t find power, while my neighbor is out of gas. Another neighbor seeks potable water as power outages have left him without for four days. A third neighbor desparately looks for milk for his child but does so in vain. Sameh A. Habeeb writes from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about Hunger before the storm 

Leila pointed towards a lone tree and small house on a ridge above what appeared to be a vacant lot. “This was a great field,” she said, “filled with lime, guava and orange trees. They destroyed them, killed the trees,” she explained, referring to Israeli invasions over the years. “A few days after he learned his trees had been destroyed, the man who owned and tended to the trees passed away.” Eva Bartlett reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about "I was afraid they would destroy our trees" 

On Saturday, banks in Gaza were thronged by lines of disappointed Palestinians who were expecting to receive part of their salaries before the Eid al-Adha holiday, which begins on Monday. Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority’s appointed Prime Minister based in Ramallah, foresaw the cash crisis earlier in the week and urged Israel to allow the transfer of shekels to Gaza, citing a needed 250 million shekels ($63 million) to pay the salaries. EI contributor Eva Bartlett reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about No Eid celebration in Gaza 

Israel has further tightened the screw on Gaza, where some areas have been completely plunged into darkness as fuel shortages shut down Gaza’s sole power plant 25 days ago. The power cuts affect all activities dependent on electrical power as the remaining power sources provided by Israel and Egypt cannot serve the needs of the whole of the Gaza Strip. Access to drinking and irrigation water is affected, as well as sewage treatment, risking disease. Sameh A. Habeeb reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about "We are slowly dying" 

Israel’s 17-month siege, tightened over the past three weeks, has forced Palestinians to find other ways to meet their basic needs. Because Israel has closed border crossings into Gaza, the 1.5 million residents lack many essential supplies including food, medicines, fuel, cooking gas, and now, electricity. Rami Almeghari writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Gazan bakers cope under siege 

Israel’s siege on Gaza, now in its 19th month, has wreaked havoc on all aspects of life and significant attention has been paid in particular to the economic consequences of border closures and blockade. However, an overlooked epidemic threatens the social and familial ties that bond the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. Living under a constant state of crisis in which their livelihoods have been denied, the people of Gaza’s once exemplary resilience and determination are giving way to an unfathomable sea of depression and psychological illnesses. EI contributor Safa Joudeh reports on one Gaza family’s story. Read more about A psychological siege 

Over the past two weeks, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have faced a sharply deteriorating humanitarian situation as Israel further tightened its closure of the border crossings. Virtually no food, medicine or other vital supplies have been allowed in to the territory that is home to 1.5 million people. Despite desperately needed medication, equipment, supplies, and spare parts, doctors continue to try to save lives and look after their patients at the European Gaza Hospital. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Gaza's hospitals struggle to save lives amid Israeli siege 

As the rival Palestinian political parties are set to engage in serious national unity talks in Cairo shortly, they leave behind a series of division-based problems, primarily strikes of public services. For the past 16 months, the ruling Hamas party in Gaza and the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have been at odds. While Hamas has taken measures against Fatah in Gaza, in the West Bank the reverse has occurred. EI correspondent in Gaza Rami Almeghari reports on the impact the political strife has had on the educational sector in occupied Gaza. Read more about Politics versus civic life in Gaza 

This morning I walked to the Indian Ocean and made salt in defiance of the British Occupation of India. This morning I marched in Selma, I stood down tanks in Tiananmen Square, and I helped tear down the Berlin Wall. This morning I became a Freedom Rider. Ramzi Kysia of the Free Gaza Movement writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Freedom Riders on the sea