Published: 4 May 2026
Last updated: 5 May 2026
Asseel al-Bhaisi voted for the first time in her life on April 25. A 27-year-old a pharmacist living in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, she was one of about 70,000 people eligible to vote in Gaza's only municipal election, the first experience of democracy in Gaza since 2006.
Most of Deir al-Balah did not vote: turnout was only 23%. (In the West Bank's municipal elections held the same day, turnout was about 53 percent.)
Rami Hamdallah, the elections commission chief, blamed outdated registry records: many on the rolls are dead, and many more are displaced outside the city. Political analyst Reham Owda put it more bluntly. "In this war, survival comes before democratic rights. For many families, finding water, firewood, and basic necessities matters more than voting."
But for voters like participating in an election was a landmark experience. "My decision to vote was about both daily services and a political message. Simply participating was a statement that we are still here, that we still have the right to choose, and that we refuse to continue living under the same reality.
"In Gaza today, with war and immense humanitarian pressure, voting is also an act of dignity and a way of insisting that our voice still matters," al-Bhaisi told The Jewish Independent.
It is the beginning of breaking a reality that lasted more than twenty years
Gazan voter Asseel al-Bhaisi
Deir al-Balah escaped the worst of the bombardment. Its prewar population of about 110,000 has swollen as Israeli operations in Rafah and northern Gaza pushed displaced families into the central Strip, turning the city into one of Gaza's main refuge areas. UN OCHA reported on April 23 that the city now has 92 functioning health service points, the most of any Gaza governorate.
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