Gaza Strip Faces ‘Collapse’, Young Generation Seeks Future beyond the Siege
Palestinian fishermen on a boat off the coast of the Gaza Strip, February 9, 2016. (AP)
Palestinians in Gaza Strip bid the year 2017 farewell, bringing with them to the new year never-ending crises that continue to be aggravated with the Israeli blockade entering its eleventh year.
Over the past six months, living conditions severely deteriorated in the coastal strip, especially after the Palestinian Authority (PA) imposed a series of sanctions on Gaza to pressure the Hamas movement to accept a national reconciliation.
Figures indicate a decrease in the number of commercial trucks entering Gaza during the last three months to less than 500, instead of over 880 truckloads that were supposed to enter the strip daily. The decrease is due to traders' inability to purchase the people's daily needs as a result of a decline in purchasing power caused by the difficult economic and living conditions, making 2017 the worst in the eleven years of the Israeli siege.
Over the past few days, a number of traders closed their shops in several areas of the strip for a few hours in protest against the deteriorating economic and living conditions.
They called for rescuing the sector and saving it from the harsh living conditions. Most citizens are no longer able to buy the most basic needs.
Mohammed al-Astal, 56, a resident of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, indicated that merchants are losing huge sums of money and cannot benefit from goods that are allowed inside the strip through the Karam Abu Salim crossing, the only commercial crossing.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, al-Astal pointed out that there is a decline in sales met by an increase in taxes imposed by the Customs Department of government of national accord, which further burdens the merchants.
He stressed that Gaza is on the brink of economic, social and social collapse. He pointed out that 2017 was the most distressing year for traders and citizens, most of whom do not receive their salaries, while some receive their wages with major cuts that affect their purchasing power.
Another resident, Hassan al-Halabi, 43, described life in Gaza as "no longer tolerable," especially since the electricity crisis continues to worsen without any signs of a radical solution or at least an improvement.
Halabi revealed that the percentage of poverty in Gaza is increasing, adding that some institutions that supervise temporary work projects, the "unemployment system", also began to reduce their services in Gaza for unknown reasons.
This indicates that the situation is general heading towards even more decline in the new year, he warned.
Another citizen, Oum Mohammed al-Absi, who is in her sixties, described the tragic circumstances of thousands of families living on the "social affairs" allowance that is issued every three months.
She hoped, like all families, to receive the allowance of $500 on time and before the end of the year, but the PA did not issue it amid rumors that it could be postponed until after January 20.
Al-Absi explained that her only source of capital is the allowance she receives every three months, noting that the majority of families receiving the money are living in similar difficult circumstances.
According to the Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS), 2017 was the most difficult year in terms of humanitarian and economic conditions in light of the ongoing Israeli siege and the consequences of internal division.
PCAS pointed out that 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, unemployment reached 50 percent and that unemployment among young people and graduates was 60 percent.
A quarter of a million workers are still unemployed and 80 percent of Gaza factories are fully or partially closed because of the blockade and attacks, with direct and indirect annual losses estimated at $250 million.
University graduate, Mohammed Abu Nasr, said that his greatest desire is for the crossings to open, allowing him and tens of thousands of young people to immigrate in search for a better future away from the siege and wars.
Despite all these complex conditions in life, people of Gaza hope that the new year will be better.
Palestinians’ Dangerous Ordeal to Reach Israeli-Approved Aid in Gazahttps://english.aawsat.com/features/5152750-palestinians%E2%80%99-dangerous-ordeal-reach-israeli-approved-aid%C2%A0-gaza
Palestinians collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters)
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Palestinians’ Dangerous Ordeal to Reach Israeli-Approved Aid in Gaza
Palestinians collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters)
When university professor Nizam Salama made his way to a southern Gaza aid point last week, he came under fire twice, was crushed in a desperate crowd of hungry people and finally left empty handed.
Shooting first started shortly after he left his family's tent at 3 a.m. on June 3 to join crowds on the coast road heading towards the aid site in the city of Rafah run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a new US-based organization working with private military contractors to deliver aid in Gaza.
The second time Salama came under fire was at Alam Roundabout close to the aid delivery site, where he saw six dead bodies.
Twenty-seven people were killed that day by Israeli fire on aid seekers, Palestinian health authorities said. Israel said its forces had shot at a group of people they viewed as a threat and the military is investigating the incident.
At the aid delivery site, known as SDS 1, queues snaked through narrow cage-like fences before gates were opened to an area surrounded by sand barriers where packages of supplies were left on tables and in boxes on the ground, according to undated CCTV video distributed by GHF, reviewed by Reuters.
Salama said the rush of thousands of people once the gates opened was a "death trap."
"Survival is for the stronger: people who are fitter and can make it earlier and can push harder to win the package," he said. "I felt my ribs going into each other. My chest was going into itself. My breath...I couldn't breathe. People were shouting; they couldn't breathe at all."
A Palestinian man, next to a child, displays the aid supplies he received from the US-supported Gaza Relief Organization, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters)
Reuters could not independently verify all the details of Salama's account. It matched the testimonies of two other aid seekers interviewed by Reuters, who spoke of crawling and ducking as bullets rattled overhead on their way to or from the aid distribution sites.
All three witnesses said they saw dead bodies on their journeys to and from the Rafah sites.
A statement from a nearby Red Cross field hospital confirmed the number of dead from the attack near the aid site on June 3.
Asked about the high number of deaths since it began operations on May 26, GHF said there had been no casualties at or in the close vicinity of its site.
The Israeli military didn't respond to detailed requests for comment. Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told reporters on Sunday that Hamas was "doing its best" to provoke troops, who "shoot to stop the threat" in what he called a war zone in the vicinity of the aid sites. He said military investigations were underway "to see where we were wrong."
Salama, 52, had heard enough about the new system to know it would be difficult to get aid, he said, but his five children - including two adults, two teenagers and a nine-year-old - needed food. They have been eating only lentils or pasta for months, he said, often only a single meal a day.
"I was completely against going to the aid site of the American company (GHF) because I knew and I had heard how humiliating it is to do so, but I had no choice because of the bad need to feed my family," said the professor of education administration.
In total, 127 Palestinians have been killed trying to get aid from GHF sites in almost daily shootings since distribution under the new system began two weeks ago, Gaza's health authority said on Monday.
The system appears to violate core principles of humanitarian aid, said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a major humanitarian organization. He compared it to the Hunger Games, the dystopian novels that set people to run and fight to the death.
"A few will be rewarded and the many will only risk their lives for nothing," Egeland said.
"International humanitarian law has prescribed that aid in war zones should be provided by neutral intermediaries that can make sure that the most vulnerable will get the relief according to needs alone and not as part of a political or military strategy," he said.
GHF did not directly respond to a question about its neutrality, replying that it had securely delivered enough aid for more than 11 million meals in two weeks. Gaza's population is around 2.1 million people.
A Palestinian man shows blood stains on his palm after he carried casualties among people seeking aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. (Reuters)
FAMINE RISK
Israel allowed limited UN-led aid operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave, where experts a week earlier warned a famine looms.
The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as "drop in the ocean."
Separate to the UN operation, Israel allowed GHF to open four sites in Gaza, bypassing traditional aid groups. The GHF sites are overseen by a US logistics company run by a former CIA official and part-owned by a Chicago-based private equity firm, with security provided by US military veterans working for a private contractor, two sources have told Reuters.
An Israeli defense official involved in humanitarian matters told Reuters GHF's distribution centers were sufficient for around 1.2 million people. Israel and the United States have urged the UN to work with GHF, which has seen a high churn of top personnel, although both countries deny funding it.
Reuters has not been able to establish who provides the funding for the organization but reported last week that Washington was considering an Israeli request to put in $500 million.
GHF coordinates with the Israeli army for access, the foundation said in reply to Reuters questions, adding that it was looking to open more distribution points. It has paused then resumed deliveries several times after the shooting incidents, including on Monday.
Last week, it urged the Israeli army to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its operations. GHF said the UN was failing to deliver aid, pointing to a spate of recent lootings.
Israel says the UN's aid deliveries have previously been hijacked by Hamas to feed their own fighters. Hamas has denied stealing aid and the UN denies its aid operations help Hamas.
The UN, which has handled previous aid deliveries into Gaza, says it has over 400 distribution points for aid in the territory. On Monday it described an increasingly anarchic situation of looting and has called on Israel to allow more of its trucks to move safely.
SHOOTING STARTS
Salama and four neighbors set out from Mawasi, in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip, at 3 a.m. on Tuesday for the aid site, taking two hours to reach Rafah, which is several miles away near the Egyptian border.
Shooting started early in their journey. Some fire was coming from the sea, he said, consistent with other accounts of the incidents. Israel's military controls the sea around Gaza.
His small group decided to press on. In the dark, the way was uneven and he repeatedly fell, he said.
"I saw people carrying wounded persons and heading back with them towards Khan Younis," he said.
By the time they reached Alam Roundabout in Rafah, about a kilometer from the site, there was a vast crowd. There was more shooting and he saw bullets hitting nearby.
"You must duck and stay on the ground," he said, describing casualties with wounds to the head, chest and legs.
He saw bodies nearby, including a woman, along with "many" injured people, he said.
Another aid seeker interviewed by Reuters, who also walked to Rafah on June 3 in the early morning, described repeated gunfire during the journey.
At one point, he and everyone around him crawled for a stretch of several hundred meters, fearing being shot. He saw a body with a wound to the head about 100 meters from the aid site, he said.
Palestinians gather to collect aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. (Reuters)
The Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah received a mass casualty influx of 184 patients on June 3, the majority of them injured by gunshots, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement, calling it the highest number of weapon-wounded patients the hospital had ever received in a single incident. There were 27 fatalities.
"All responsive patients said they were trying to reach an assistance distribution site," the statement said.
When Salama finally arrived at the aid point on June 3, there was nothing left.
"Everyone was standing pulling cardboard boxes from the floor that were empty," he said. "Unfortunately, I found nothing: a very, very, very big zero."
Although the aid was gone, more people were arriving.
"The flood of people pushes you to the front while I was trying to go back," he said.
As he was pushed further towards where GHF guards were located, he saw them using pepper spray on the crowd, he said.
GHF said it was not aware of the pepper spray incident, but said its workers used non-lethal measures to protect civilians.
"I started shouting at the top of my lungs, brothers I don't want anything, I just want to leave, I just want to leave the place," Salama said.
"I left empty-handed... I went back home depressed, sad and angry and hungry too," he said.
