By: Anne Paq & Basel Yazouri / Activestills.org
Six months have passed since the last Israeli offensive left the Gaza Strip in a dire humanitarian crisis. The difficult storms of the past few months have affected those who were left homeless by Israeli air strikes, specifically the thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been staying in shelters and are increasingly frustrated by lack of rebuilding.
The sea remains one of the few open spaces where Palestinians can go to relax and overcome the trauma of last summer.
A young man runs on the beach with his surfboard, Gaza, February 12, 2015. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Palestinian youth play near a breakwater despite the strong winds that hit the Gaza City harbor, February 13, 2015. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
This is the second major storm to hit the Strip in the last few months. In November, severe flooding hit the Al-Nafeq neighborhood, one of the lowest areas of Gaza City, exacerbating by the damage Gaza’s civilian infrastructure sustained during the war.
A Palestinian child sells sweets in the Gaza City harbor, February 13, 2015. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian man walks through a storm in the harbor in Gaza City, February 11, 2015. The poor weather conditions especially affect the tens of thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes during last summer’s Israeli offensive. Many of them stay in shelters or in their damaged homes. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
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.
A Palestinian walks through the destroyed quarter of Shuja’iyah, east of Gaza City, February 11, 2015. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian man tries to warm himself by the fire in one of the destroyed quarter of Shuja’iyah, east of Gaza City, February 11, 2015. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian child collects plastic bottles to make whatever income he can, Gaza City coast, February 12, 2015. (photo:Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Palestinians sit near an improvised shack used to sell groceries in the Shuja’iyah neighborhood, Gaza Strip, February 11th, 2015. (photo: Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Rubble piles up in Gaza’s Shuja’iyahneighbourhood, February 11th, 2015. (photo: Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian boy sits in his home during winter storm, Shuja’iyah neighborhood, Gaza Strip, February 11th, 2015. (photo: Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
A mosque seen during a sand storm on the Gaza coast, February 11, 2015. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Related:
PHOTOS: In Gaza, rebuilding is still over the horizon
Floods hit Gaza as war-hit infrastructure struggles
In Photos: Life between the Gazan waves
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.