Middle East Eye

Gaza’s explosives engineering team in Rafah is working to safely dispose of unexploded Israeli ordnance left behind following the 15-month-long devastating war on the besieged enclave. Mohammed Maqdad, head of the explosives engineering division, called on the international community to collaborate in clearing Gaza of unexploded ordnance. In April 2024, the United Nations Mine Action Service (Unmas) estimated that 7,500 tons of unexploded ordnance are scattered across Gaza, with the cleanup potentially taking up to 14 years to complete.

“Al-Farahin village was a very excellent village. It had modern villas with red tiled roofs All the houses, the entire village, were destroyed.” Haj Muhammad Jumaa Abu Daqqa, a 67-year-old Palestinian man, reminisces about his neighbourhood, Al-Farahin in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, which was completely destroyed by Israeli forces during Israel’s 15-month war on Gaza. Despite the destruction, Abu Daqqa says he will live in a tent in his old neighbourhood until he rebuilds his home, stating, “I was born here, and I will die here.”

“Israel wanted to annihilate the Palestinian people..they have failed.” Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Neha Shah speaks at the latest pro-Palestine protest in London, emphasising the movement’s plans to continue in their activism for Palestine after a ceasefire was announced in Gaza. This comes as London's Metropolitan Police chief, Sir Mark Rowley, has come under fire after he met with a pro-Israeli group on Sunday after his force imposed unprecedented restrictions on a major pro-Palestine protest in London on Saturday that led to 77 arrests. According to estimates by the organisers, the rally drew over 100,000 people. No previous pro-Palestine rally since 7 October 2023 has seen organisers arrested.

Video footage from Vatican News shows Pope Francis having his daily video call with members of the Catholic church in Gaza, which he has reportedly done every evening since 9 October 2023. During the call, the pope asked how the people at the Holy Family Church are doing and what they had for dinner. About 600 people are sheltered at Gaza’s only Catholic church, seeking safety from Israel’s relentless bombardments for more than 15 months prior to a ceasefire taking effect on Sunday. In July last year the church was bombed by Israel, which killed four displaced Palestinians sheltering in the church grounds.

Video footage from Vatican News shows Pope Francis having his daily video call with members of the Catholic church in Gaza, which he has reportedly done every evening since 9 October 2023. During the call, the pope asked how the people at the Holy Family Church are doing and what they had for dinner. About 600 people are sheltered at Gaza’s only Catholic church, seeking safety from Israel’s relentless bombardments for more than 15 months prior to a ceasefire taking effect on Sunday. In July last year the church was bombed by Israel, which killed four displaced Palestinians sheltering in the church grounds.

"We were supposed to have a meeting with the Americans on October 9th" Javad Zarif, the Iranian vice-president for strategic affairs, has insisted at a Davos forum that his nation had nothing to do with the events on October 7. He even goes on to discuss how the military operation 'sabotaged' a potential deal renewal with the US administration at the time.

"It is from the midst of pain that a flower of hope grows" Abu Sami al-Amoudi is a nurse at Gaza's Nasser Hospital. However, when he's not caring for wounded Palestinians, he uses social media to post videos. al-Amoudi combines his comedy with the 'bitter reality' of Israel's war on Gaza, to alleviate the pain felt across the strip.

“ I lost my sister. I lost my home. I lost everything. But we gained the return.” Displaced Palestinians in Gaza began returning to the northern Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time since the war started after the Israeli army withdrew. According to the Gaza health ministry, around 650,000 displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip will return to their homes in the north of the enclave.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza began returning to the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, for the first time since the war started, after mediators brokered an agreement tied to the release of one Israeli captive. According to the Gaza health ministry, around 650,000 displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip will return to what is left of their homes in the north of the enclave. The failure of Israel's plan to empty north Gaza has - temporarily at least - given hope to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza that they will be able to rebuild their old lives.

Middle East Eye correspondents Maha Hussaini and Hani Aburezeq document Palestinians returning to northern Gaza on foot from the southern and central parts of the strip. One woman, travelling with her children, shared her joy at reuniting with her husband after a year-long separation. Another woman, persevering through the challenging journey north, voiced her resolve: “Even if we have to crawl, what’s important is that we’re back on our land.” Hussaini reported that a trip from central Gaza to northern Nuseirat, which would ordinarily take five minutes, now stretches to two hours due to “the most overcrowded scene we have ever seen in Gaza in decades.” She also noted that some returnees had been sleeping by the roadside for three days, waiting for the Israeli army to withdraw from the Netzarim corridor.

“Our happiness isn’t complete. We’ve lost so much. Our homes are gone, our houses destroyed”. Displaced Palestinians in Gaza began returning to the northern Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time since the war started after the Israeli army withdrew. According to the Gaza health ministry, around 650,000 displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip will return to their homes in the north of the enclave.

“It seems very unlikely that he would pose any realistic threat to Israel.” Dr Victoria Rose speaks to MEE's Mohamed Hashem about Adnan al-Bursh, a leading Palestinian surgeon and former colleague, who was reportedly killed by torture while in Israeli detention in April 2024. In what has been termed a “deliberate assassination”, Bursh, 50, died in the Israel-controlled Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank on 19 April, according to the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee, and his body remains withheld. Until his arrest, Bursh regularly travelled around to different hospitals in the Gaza Strip to tend to patients, and at the time of his arrest, he was working at al-Awda Hospital. Several medical staff and patients were also arrested alongside Bursh. Watch our Real Talk interview with Dr Rose on YouTube.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim says the group rejects any regional or international force in Gaza - and it would only step aside if a Palestinian faction takes over. He says Palestinians have enough agency and maturity to decide their own future, and any foreign intervention will only serve to protect Israel’s occupation. This week on The Big Picture Podcast, we speak with the former health minister of Gaza about the ceasefire deal, the prisoner negotiations and the coming war he predicts in the West Bank. Watch on YouTube or subscribe and listen on all podcast platforms.

The moment a Palestinian family discovers their home is still standing in Gaza after a 15-month-long devastating war on the besieged strip. Since the ceasefire took effect on Sunday, thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to their homes, which have been mostly reduced to rubble or left as half-standing structures. According to a UN assessment based on satellite imagery, as of 1 December 2024, over 60,000 structures across Gaza had been destroyed, and more than 20,000 have been severely damaged during Israel’s war on Gaza. The preliminary assessment estimated over 50 million tons of conflict-generated debris.