News stories by Eva Bartlett, page 2

GAZA CITY, Dic 25 (IPS) - On Nov. 17, four days into Israel's eight-day assault on the Gaza Strip, deputy Israeli Prime Minister Eli Yishai publicly called for the Israeli army to "blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages, destroying all the infrastructure including roads and water".

GAZA CITY, Dic 17 (IPS) - Shortly after Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire agreement on Nov. 21, the Israeli navy abducted 30 Palestinian fishers from Gaza's waters, destroyed and sank a Palestinian fishing vessel, and confiscated nine fishing boats in the space of four days.

GAZA CITY, Dic 10 (IPS) - When Israeli bombs struck the Abu Khadra complex for civil administration, they also gutted the sixth floor of the Abu Shabaan complex, located ten metres across the road. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), eight Israeli warplane-fired bombs levelled roughly half of the government compound in eastern Gaza City in the early hours of Nov. 21.

ABASSAN, Gaza Strip, Dic 04 (IPS) - "It was the first day of the cease-fire. An Israeli soldier shot once in the air and within seconds shot me in the leg. He was only a few metres away. Haithem Abu Dagga, 26, an electrician and farm labourer, will not be able to work for as many months as it takes his right leg to heal. The bullet exited his leg but fractured his shin bone.

GAZA CITY, Sep 30 (IPS) - “The overwhelming majority of people we work with tell us, 'We don't want the aid, we want to have an opportunity to work and earn money’. Especially people who had a decent job but lost it in the last many years: before asking for any aid, they ask for a job.”

GAZA CITY, Sep 29 (IPS) - “From the coast to eight miles out, the sea is like a desert: it's sandy and there are no fish.” Mohammed Al-Bakri traces a thick line on the wall map before him, following the lines of Gaza's eastern and northern borders, continuing south from three miles off the coast.

RAFAH, Gaza, Sep 14 (IPS) - The car's engine revs, wheels spinning in vain, as it sinks deeper into the sandy lane near Rafah, southern Gaza. Members of the Palestinian Paralympic Committee (PPC) are en route to welcome Palestine's two Paralympic contenders, Mohammed Fanouna and Khamis Zaqut, home from the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

JABALIYA, Gaza, Sep 08 (IPS) - "Gaza's economy is expected to grow modestly and people will likely still be worse off in 2015 compared to the mid-1990s," reads a press release announcing the United Nations' August 2012 report, ‘Gaza in 2020 – A Liveable Place?’

RAFAH, Gaza, Aug 30 (IPS) - “I waited from 10 am till 5 pm for my wife to cross from Egypt. She was among many hundreds who were coming into Gaza. Some waited since 6 am, some since the day before.”

'During hard times, we have survived off olive oil,' says Ahmed Sourani from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. 'During the last war many people who couldn’t leave their homes had only bread and olive oil to sustain them for long periods.'