Palestinian PM to Visit Gaza for First Time in Years

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
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Palestinian PM to Visit Gaza for First Time in Years

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (R) speaks during a joint press conference at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 25, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Palestinian government announced that it will hold a meeting in Gaza next Tuesday to turn the page of the administrative committee formed by Hamas and give the green light for the ministries and institutions in Gaza Strip.

Spokesman for the Palestinian government Youssef al-Mahmoud said, “Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has decided after consulting with President Mahmoud Abbas that the government will hold its weekly meeting in Gaza next week.”

“Hamdallah and members of the government will arrive in Gaza next Monday to start taking over government responsibilities after Hamas announced its agreement to dissolve the administrative committee and enable the government to assume its full responsibilities,” he added.

Hamdallah determined the purposes behind the government’s visit to Gaza, saying that he aims at knowing all the conditions by which the government will work to tackle consequences of the siege, division, and repetitive Israeli aggression.

Hamas welcomed the arrival of the government of Hamdallah to Gaza Strip. A meeting was held in Gaza, in the presence of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, to brief attendees on the outcome of the delegation's visit to Cairo and the agreements reached in the sponsorship of Egyptian intelligence.

Haniyeh affirmed that reconciliation is a strategic decision as he welcomed the government’s intention to visit Gaza, assuring that Hamas would provide all required facilities to let it perform its tasks.

In a later statement, the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces stressed the importance of restoring national unity in Palestine and ending divisions. They also lauded efforts of Egypt in supporting the nation’s causes as well as Hamas dissolving the administrative committee in Gaza Strip to resume implementation of the reconciliation.



With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
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With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the latest conflict.

Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area on July 13, the territory's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas' elusive military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.

According to the United Nations, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.

Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes.

After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.

"We didn't take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us," she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.

She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers.

When Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 they killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say.

Hana Al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.

If Egyptian, US and Qatari mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. "Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous," she said.