Author

Tareq S. Hajjaj

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Khalil Al-Hinawi stands in front of his home, while Ministry workers demolish it with hammers, in Al-Shati Refugee Camp, Gaza, January 2023. “It is impossible to resettle anywhere else, my life is here,” says Hinawi. (Photo: Mohammed Salem)

Palestinian refugees in Gaza are being displaced by the Hamas-led government to make way for a coastal highway. Although residents have built their homes out of their own pockets over several generations, the government says they have the right to demolish the homes because the residents do not officially own the land in Al-Shati Refugee Camp.

“When the Israeli gunboat fired towards us, we refused to leave our homes,” Nasser Abu Saif tells Mondoweiss “I spent my life suffering. Now at the end of my life the government will take my home instead of supporting me and my family?”

Tareq Hajjaj reporting in Gaza. (Photo: Mohammed Salem)

Journalists in Gaza often face an internal conflict where you feel split between the pleasure of being able to tell people’s true stories and the concern that you might be judged for it because of who you are.

Gaza is mourning 21 members of the Abu Rayya family who were burned alive when a fire ignited the small apartment they had gathered in for a family celebration.

The tragedy is a direct result of the Gaza blockade, as frequent power cuts have forced families to use alternative fuel sources to fight the dark, often in hazardous conditions.