Fragments of survival: A Gaza woman’s chronicle of unseen loss Jerome a timer most subs

Fragments of survival: A Gaza woman’s chronicle of unseen loss

“Is this still life – or just an extended ending?”

I write these words from a tent in the al-Nasr neighbourhood of Gaza City. Me and my family – my husband, our two sons, and two daughters – came here after being displaced in mid-May from Jabalia – it was the fifth time. 

Israel has now all but erased Jabalia – a refugee camp in the far north of Gaza – from the map. Nothing remains of home – just ghosts of what used to be.

Now, we live with nylon walls that breathe dust and cold, and a ceiling that trembles with every drone that hovers overhead. There is no safety in Gaza. Just waiting for the next strike.

There is no water. No food. No electricity. Yesterday, we couldn’t find a single kilo of flour.

Two days ago, Muhammad, my husband’s nephew, was killed while searching for food. He was only 15. A child with a plastic bag in his hand and an empty stomach. He only wanted to feed his family. He said he’d be right back. But he didn’t return.

We used to see him often. Now, his absence fills the tent more than his presence ever did.

Sometimes I sit in silence and ask myself: What are we surviving for? Is this still life – or just an extended ending? I survived missiles and tanks and grief. But who am I now? I keep breathing, but I don’t feel alive. Is that still called survival?

Every night, I stare into the darkness – not to dream, but to endure. I no longer pray for miracles. I only ask for a morning where no one dies.

I think of all the pieces I lost. Places. Moments. People. Parts of myself. And I wonder – will I ever get them back? And if not, will what’s left of me be enough to build something new?

Read the entire article here.

sSumaya Yasser Saleh

Palestinian writer documenting the human cost of siege and displacement, focusing on women's voices and psychological survival

Water crisis grips Hebron after Israel chokes West Bank supply

Hebron Governorate, the largest in the occupied West Bank, has been facing an acute water crisis since May after Israeli occupation authorities cut its allocation by more than 40 percent.

The reduction has triggered daily hardship for residents, sharply increased water costs, and led to accusations of mismanagement by Palestinian authorities, with the crisis worsening in the summer heat.

Residents depend on secondary sources such as municipal and Water Authority wells and rainwater, but the main supply comes from Israel's Mekorot company under Annexe II of the Oslo II Agreement, which left control of key water sources in the occupied territories in Israeli hands.

From a neighbourhood in western Hebron, resident Radi Karameh told The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: "The water crisis affects our lives daily. Years ago, it reached us through the municipality’s lines for a fee, but as the population grew, the amount and infrastructure stayed the same, affecting distribution and causing daily problems between residents."

Read the entire article here.

Dispatches from the West Bank via Jewish Currents...

For Palestinians living in the West Bank, settler violence has long been a relentless facet of everyday life. With the formation of Israel’s far-right coalition government in December 2022, settler assaults have only escalated, graduating from small-scale attacks on shepherds grazing their flock to mob violence on whole communities. In February, after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis near the West Bank town of Huwara, settlers rampaged through the Palestinian town, killing one resident and wounding 100, in addition to vandalizing homes and shops and setting hundreds of cars afire. At the time, Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli finance minister and head of civil administration in the West Bank, called for Huwara to be “wiped out.” Several months later, the pattern repeated after a Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis near the settlement of Eli, triggering a Huwara-style riot where hundreds of settlers entered nearby Palestinian villages and attacked residents and property. Once again, the government spurred on the settlers, with Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calling for a military operation in the West Bank that would “blow up buildings [and] assassinate terrorists—not one, or two, but dozens, hundreds, or if needed, thousands.” Israeli police and the army are often party to such settler violence, either through inaction or through direct participation.

Read the article here.

Water Fact--August 11, 2025

Water Fact - August 11, 2025

The spread of water-borne disease has escalated throughout the Gaza Strip during the 22-month-long genocide.   According to a recent  Oxfam report, over the last three months, some forms of  diarrhea have increased by more than 300 percent,  and cases of acute jaundice have risen by more than 200 percent.   With little access to water for bathing as waste piles up in streets and tented encampments, scabies and other skin conditions that are usually easily treatable are spreading rapidly through the population.  

Israel’s displacement orders from  late July demanding Palestinians relocate from the north and middle area of the Strip to only 13 percent  of the land in the south would deprive them of access to the limited supply of clean water produced by some partially functioning desalination plants, including a major one located in Deir-al Balah in the middle area of Gaza.  

On August 4, Al Jazeera reported that “more than 75 percent of wells are out of service, 85 percent of public works equipment has been destroyed, 100,000 metres (62 miles) of water mains have been damaged and 200,000 metres (124 miles) of sewage lines are unusable.  Pumping stations are out of action, and 250,000 tonnes of rubbish are clogging the streets.”

Palestinians desperate to stave off thirst are forced to consume brackish, salinated water from Gaza’s sole collapsing aquifer, which contains disease-spreading bacteria and other contaminants. The impending Israeli military invasion to take over Gaza City and the entire Gaza Strip is bound to make an already catastrophic situation still more cataclysmic.