“He insisted that we all take a photo; it was the first in the last 12 years since we got married, as if he was feeling his death was approaching,” says Ghada al-Khatib, widow of Awni al-Khatib at their home in al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City. Awni al-Khatib died a few days of the brain damage he suffered since 1990 when he was shot in the head by an Israeli-fired, rubber-coated steel bullet. Awni is one of thousands of Palestinians who sustained injuries from such bullets during the first intifada that broke out in 1987. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza’s Shati’ refugee camp. Read more about A living martyr 

“We are in a prison. Our situation is so miserable in the arena the Egyptian authorities have placed us in. Yesterday a 45-year-old woman pilgrim died in front of us,” says Nayef al-Khaldi. The 55-year-old al-Khaldi is stuck at an arena turned into a shelter at the Egyptian border town at al-Arish along with more than 1,100 other Palestinians following the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Hajj pilgrims stranded in Egypt 

A 500-meter-long street in the heart of Gaza City is empty of cars and vehicles, but full of men, women and children. Omar al-Mokhtar Street is considered the largest commercial area in Gaza where people from all over the coastal region have always come to shop, especially during the holiday season. In recent days, Gaza, like other Islamic communities around the world, prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, a major holiday marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. Normally a time of joy, this year’s Eid is different from past years because Gaza suffers from the tight Israeli closures on all travel and commercial crossings. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Gazans say this Eid is the worst ever 

In the dirty streets of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, the sparse fruit stands carry only rotten fruit, because it is all the market’s vendors can afford to sell, and all the refugees can afford to buy. “It will still be gone in an hour,” says Dr. Mona El-Farra, “because they have to eat something.” Of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents more than 60 percent are under 18. The effects of malnutrition are seen not only in the kids’ hunger, but also in their brain function. They are unable to focus in school, and have become violent. Sarah Price reports from Gaza. Read more about Building hope from rubble 

With the majority of gas stations closed in Gaza due to the escalating fuel crisis, a group of local Gaza taxi drivers shared the fuel in their cars’ tanks, for the sake of going back home, rather than earning a living under already dire economic conditions. Majed Abu Sam’an, a driver of a Hyundai taxi minibus, was parked along with other drivers in mid-day Tuesday, 4 December 2007, siphoning gasoline from his car’s tank into that of another. “We are helping him so he can go back home, as he has been stuck here in Gaza City since the early hours of morning. We went to all the gas stations but they were closed, no fuel to buy,” says Abu Sama’an. Rami Almeghari reports for EI. Read more about "No fuel, no gasoline, no benzene" 

“We had been waiting for an urgent referral to an outside hospital for the past six days, until he died today,” said Dr. Ismail Yassin Monday, in response to the death of one more patient at the Gaza Children’s Hospital. Tamer al-Yazji, a 12-year-old chicken pox patient, died on Monday on his hospital bed after his referral to an Israeli hospital had been delayed. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari talks to Gaza health care workers and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel about Israel denying Gazans access to health care and the reports of Shabak pressuring patients to inform in exchange for permission to travel. Read more about "A matter of revenge": Israel denying medical treatment to Gaza 

Ayda is yet another victim of Israel’s devastating closure of Gaza. While her husband, 37-year-old Zakariya Abdelal from the Gaza City neighborhood of al-Tuffah, was receiving condolences from friends and neighbors, their youngest son, 10-month-old baby Mustafah, lay calmly in the corner. Thirty-one-year-old mother of seven Ayda died after losing her fight with breast cancer, which necessitated chemotherapy treatment currently unavailable in Gaza. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from Gaza. Read more about Mother dies after being denied access to health care 

Five-month-old Eyad is one of the happiest babies I’ve ever met. Barely touch his cheeks and he smiles and giggles; tickle his little belly and he bursts out in laughter, kicking his feet up in the air. Jamalat, his mother, says his laughter is a blessing from God for it fills her heart with joy and takes away some of her heartbreak and sorrow. Yassmin Moor writes from Gaza. Read more about A life cut short 

Places of entertainment in Gaza are few and far between compared with other parts of the world. While the atmosphere in Gaza is becoming more depressed and the economy is crumbling, Gaza’s population was nevertheless determined to celebrate the major Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr. EI contributor Rami Almeghari writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Gaza's children deserve life 

Nine-year-old Najla Rajab, with her two brothers and mother, was among tens of Palestinians demonstrating today in Gaza City, calling for permission to leave Gaza. Najla said that she wants to travel to Saudi Arabia to see her father and to re-enroll in her school in Jeddah, but she has not been able to since Israel has closed Gaza’s borders for months. “We came to Gaza to spend the summer vacation. Now we are stranded here; I cannot go back to my school in Saudi Arabia,” said Najla. Sami Abu Salem reports from Gaza. Read more about Closed borders, closed future in Gaza