#gaza

#gaza

That's how a Palestinian man described his transfer from Gaza, through Israel and Kenya, to South Africa. A journey so desperate that Palestinians paid thousands of dollars to leave their homes without knowing where they were going. A journey forced by more than two years of Israel's genocide. In February, Israel and the United States proposed forcibly removing Palestinians from Gaza. But Arab states rejected calls to take them in, and rights groups labelled it ethnic cleansing.

A mobile skatepark moving between displacement camps in Gaza is providing rare mental health support to children trapped in one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises, where trauma and grief are rife. Amid the wreckage of Gaza City, where collapsed buildings and twisted concrete dominate the landscape, a group of young Palestinians has transformed the destruction into an unlikely playground.

There is no engagement with the youth who studied under bombardment, no voice for the high school students whose determination defied the arrogance of war. Here in Gaza, where schools have been turned into piles of rubble, young people are rewriting the story of resilience: a story of education practiced as an act of resistance, and hope rising from beneath the ruins.

The smoke from the bombing blinded me completely, she said.

About 30 minutes into a new documentary featuring testimonies of Israeli soldiers about being deployed to Gaza, a soldier reflects on the enclave after months of sustained Israeli war on it: Terrible heat. Sand. Stench. And dogs wandering around in packs. They eat dead bodies It's horrifying It's a kind of zombie apocalypse. No trees. No bushes. No roads. There's nothing.

Tension is building around Villa Park ahead of tonight's Europa League game between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. No Maccabi fans will be in attendance, officially at least, after the local Safety Advisory Group decided one of the stipulations for the issuing of a safety certificate would be a blanket ban on Israeli supporters. The reasoning was the prospect of clashes with pro-Palestine supporters over the situation in Gaza which continues to rumble on despite an uneasy ceasefire currently in operation.

Annemarie Jacir's Palestine 36 debuted at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this fall to a 15-minute standing ovation - the longest in the festival's history. The historical drama is the only feature film shot in Gaza within the past two years, as Israeli missiles flew overhead. Critics have hailed Palestine 36 as a stirring and deeply human depiction of a 1936 rebellion against British colonial rule, centered on the story of Yusuf, a young man whose village is threatened by displacement.

Live updatesLive updates, Southern Gaza witnesses raids, intensive artillery shelling as Israel continues its attacks, violating the ceasefire. The Israeli army has launched raids and intensive artillery shelling while carrying out demolitions in southern Gaza, our colleagues on the ground report. Hamas has recovered and handed over the body of an Israeli captive. Israel confirmed the delivery but has not yet verified the identity.

As a tenuous ceasefire was taking hold in mid-October, The Oaklandside sat down with Lujain Al-Saleh, an Oakland resident with family in Gaza, to find out what it's been like as a Palestinian American to witness so intimately the long two years of war in Gaza, which the United Nations determined, in September, was a genocide. After we spoke, Israel violated the ceasefire with airstrikes across Gaza that killed more than 100 people, including at least 46 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Then in December as Israeli forces surrounded the hospital, an Israeli officer called Abu Safia and promised to relocate him and his staff to another hospital. But the promise was a lie. Instead, the paediatrician and neonatologist was abducted by Israeli forces. Ten months later, Abu Safia is still in detention as Israel has refused to include him in prisoner exchanges.

I'm a Christian man, and I'm just confused why there's this notion that we might owe Israel something or that they are our greatest ally or that we have to support this multi-hundred-billion dollar foreign aid package to Israel to cover this to quote Charlie Kirk ethnic cleansing in Gaza,

It remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops, in part given the refusal of Palestinian Hamas militants to disarm as called for by the plan, while Israel has voiced concerns about the make-up of the force. While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into the Gaza Strip, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.

The violence is much reduced. Yet Israeli forces have reportedly killed about 100 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more since the 10 October ceasefire began. Food aid supplies are still heavily restricted. The occupation continues, in Gaza and the West Bank. US officials fear prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his accomplices may renege on the deal, as in the past. Likewise, Hamas elements and rival gangs have kept fighting.

For many Americans, there might be a temptation to disbelieve the enormity of what has happened in the Gaza Strip. After all, it is a catastrophe funded by our money, made possible by our weapons, condoned by our government and carried out by one of our closest allies. It's little wonder that some want to downplay the damage. Their defense is to cast doubt on the numbers.