Running on empty, but Gaza City still keeps going

Published: 30 November 2017

Last updated: 4 March 2024

GAZA CITY, the Gaza Strip’s principal urban centre, carries various scars of war. Since 2006, Gaza has endured one civil war between Palestinians, three wars between the ruling Hamas militant group and Israel, a decade of Hamas’ repressive rule, and a crushing blockade by neighbouring Israel and Egypt – all of which have crippled the economy and turned the tiny territory into a site of humanitarian crisis.

Gaza City’s dusty buildings and bumpy roads, many still damaged or half-rebuilt from the last war, are at times reminiscent of facades found in Egypt and the Palestinian West Bank.

But it is the crushing monotony and suffocating limits of life that define the city for residents who have walked the same streets for a decade without a chance of getting out. Still, the city carries on, with coffee shops, traffic, clothes stores, restaurants and even a new upscale mall offering diversions for those who can afford them.

FULL STORY Gaza City in the spotlight: hesitant hope in a city where everyone still wants out (Guardian)

Photo: Palestinians attend Friday noon prayer beneath the fallen minaret during the 2014 war. Photograph: Khalil Hamra/AP