Hard hit during the summer’s war, civilian infrastructure is having a hard time coping with heavy rains.
Photos and reporting: Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
The latest storm to hit the eastern Mediterranean region flooded large areas of Gaza City this week. The Al-Nafeq neighborhood, one of the lowest areas of Gaza City, suffered from severe flooding, exacerbated by the damage Gaza’s civilian infrastructure sustained during the war with Israel this past summer.
Entire streets were flooded with as much as 1.5 meters of water. A number of people, primarily the elderly and children, were rescued from the hardest-hit areas by emergency responders.
The homes in the neighborhood, many of which haven’t yet been repaired since the war, are now sustaining water damage. A large number of residents, having only returned to their homes in recent weeks since the war, were forced to take their belongings and leave once again.
Residents of Al-Nafaq in high waters flooding the neighborhood, Gaza City, November 27, 2014. Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Residents of Al-Nafaq in high waters flooding the neighborhood, Gaza City, November 27, 2014. Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Residents of Al-Nafaq in high waters flooding the neighborhood, Gaza City, November 27, 2014. Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Residents of Al-Nafaq in high waters flooding the neighborhood, Gaza City, November 27, 2014. Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Residents of Al-Nafaq in high waters flooding the neighborhood, Gaza City, November 27, 2014. Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Residents of Al-Nafaq in high waters flooding the neighborhood, Gaza City, November 27, 2014. Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Residents of Al-Nafaq in high waters flooding the neighborhood, Gaza City, November 27, 2014. Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war – the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the massive retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed unleashed by these events has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Hamas’ murderous assault in southern Israel has devastated and shocked the country to its core. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza is wreaking destruction on the already besieged strip and killing a ballooning number of civilians. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to escalate their attacks on Palestinians.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 13 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, the entrenched occupation, and an increasingly normalized siege on Gaza.
We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.
Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is the leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists and activists can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.