Rami Almeghari

Gaza City residents in the coastal Hamami neighborhood are outraged after the Gaza government bulldozed their houses to make way for a major infrastructure project.

Seventeen-year-old Haneen Abu Jalala died last month at an Israeli hospital from what her family says were complications from white phosphorous fired at their home three years ago.

Gaza health facilities continue to suffer shortages of medicines and equipment because of rivalry between Palestinian political parties, as well as the siege Israel has imposed on the Strip.

It is a craft that has been passed down from one generation to the next. The al-Mathloums were one of the best-known bamboo furniture-making families in Gaza but now, of his brothers, only Zakariya, the eldest son, is struggling to keep the tradition and the business alive.

Though The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari’s family has finally accessed medical treatment for his ailing wife, unlike other less lucky families in Gaza, the obstacles they have encountered are absurd.

Rami Almeghari recounts his struggle to both cover the growing protests at Cairo’s Tahrir Square and fight his own personal battle.

Palestinians in Gaza needing urgent medical care are left with few treatment options because of Israel’s four-year-long blockade. Patients who are able to reach Egypt are oftentimes unable to afford or access treatment that can save their lives.

Qusay al-Astal, the owner of an olive oil extraction plant in Gaza, has been in the business for seven years but even in that short period he has seen dramatic changes.

Eid Misleh spent 19 years in Israel’s prisons until he was released as part of a prisoner exchange agreed between Hamas and Israel. Back home among family in Gaza, Misleh told The Electronic Intifada about life in prisoner and the hardship of being denied family visits for eleven years.

The sense of joy was palpable in the streets of Gaza on Tuesday as released prisoners were greeted by celebratory crowds. The Electronic Intifada’s Rami Almeghari was there when the first prisoners arrived.