Rafah

Hope and anxiety at Rafah crossing



Jamila Hammouda, a mother of five small children, hopes that she will be reunited with her family in Cairo, Egypt. Hammouda, her husband and their children were waiting on the Gaza side of the Rafah terminal crossing with Egypt, where Palestinians in Gaza have queued up after Egyptian authorities reopened the crossing “indefinitely.” Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada. 

Gaza home demolitions spark anger, highlight housing crisis



On 16 May, bulldozers demolished 20 houses in the al-Barahma neighborhood west of Rafah in the southern occupied Gaza Strip. This tragic scene has been repeated all too many times in Palestine’s history, but what made this different, and a subject of great controversy and outcry, is that it was carried out by the Palestinian Land Authority (PLA), backed by police from the Hamas government. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada. 

Worse than an earthquake



Traffic on Sea Street, a major thoroughfare alongside Gaza’s coastline, includes horses, donkeys pulling carts, cyclists, pedestrians, trucks and cars, mostly older models. Overhead, in stark contrast to the street below, Israel’s ultra-modern unmanned surveillance planes crisscross the skies. F-16s and helicopters can also be heard. Remnants of their deliveries, the casings of missiles, bombs and shells used during the past three weeks of Israeli attacks, are scattered on the ground. Kathy Kelly writes from the occupied Gaza Strip. 

Dreaming of a better future in Gaza



Israeli officials said on 3 March that they finished their military operation in the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli attacks continue, and we fear that Israel is still planning a major invasion. What is happening in Gaza hurts all Palestinians, not just Hamas. Before this assault, the Gaza Strip, with 1.5 million residents, was already like a prison under siege, with dwindling supplies of food, medicine, fuel, clean water and electricity, and growing poverty. Fida Qishta writes from occupied Rafah. 

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