CAIRO (AP) — Desperate Palestinians at a garbage dump in a Gaza neighborhood dug with their bare hands for plastic items to burn to fend off the cold and damp winter in the enclave, battered by two years of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Associated Press.
The scene in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis contrasted with the vision of the territory projected by world leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, where they inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” that will oversee Gaza, the report said.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump claimed that “record levels” of humanitarian aid had entered Gaza since the October start of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal. The AP report said Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and envoy Steve Witkoff touted the devastated territory’s development potential.
Palestinians in Gaza questioned whether the “Board of Peace” would change their lives, the AP said. Months into the truce, the report said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remained in displacement camps, sheltering in tents and in war-ravaged buildings.
Despite the ceasefire, recurring deadly strikes continued, according to the report. Israeli tank shelling on Thursday killed four Palestinians east of Gaza City, Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Shifa Hospital, said, and the Israeli military did not immediately comment, the AP reported.
For many residents, survival amid shortages has meant burning waste. For Sanaa Salah, who lives in a tent with her husband and six kids, starting a fire was described as a critical daily chore so they could cook and keep warm, according to the AP. Salah said, “Life is very hard,” adding, “We cannot even have a cup of tea.” She also said, “This is our life” and “We do not sleep at night from the cold.”
The AP report said Aziz Akel described firewood as too expensive and said his family had no income and could not afford 7 or 8 shekels (about $2.5). Akel said, “My house is gone and my kids were wounded.” His daughter, Lina Akel, said he left the tent early each morning to look for plastic in the garbage to burn, calling it “the basics of life,” the report said.
The winter hardship story unfolded alongside reports of deaths from violence involving journalists. The AP reported that dozens of Palestinians gathered Thursday to mourn three Palestinian journalists killed the day before when an Israeli strike hit their vehicle, Gaza health officials said. The Israeli military said the strike came after it spotted suspects operating a drone that posed a threat to troops, according to the report.
Mohammed Mansour, spokesperson for an Egyptian government committee that manages a displacement camp, said the journalists were filming near a displacement camp in central Gaza. The AP report said one of the journalists, Abdul Raouf Shaat, was a regular contributor to Agence France-Presse, but AFP said he was not on assignment at the time, and demanded a full investigation. The AP also said Israel bars international journalists from entering to cover the war, aside from rare guided tours, and that news organizations rely largely on Palestinian journalists and residents in Gaza for reporting.
The AP report cited Gaza’s health ministry saying that since the ceasefire began in October, more than 470 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza. It said at least 77 have been killed by Israeli gunfire near a ceasefire line that splits the territory between Israeli-held areas and most of Gaza’s Palestinian population, and it said the ministry maintains detailed casualty records considered generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Looking ahead, the AP reported that Ali Shaath, head of a new, future technocratic government in Gaza, said the Rafah border crossing will open in both directions next week on the Gaza-Egypt border. The report said Israel said in early December it would open the Gaza side of the crossing but had not yet done so. Reopening the crossing, the AP said, would make it easier for Palestinians in Gaza to seek medical treatment or visit family in Egypt.
The AP also reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to send $1 billion to the Board of Peace for humanitarian purposes in Gaza if the U.S. unblocks the money. Putin met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow, the report said. “We believe that only forming and proper functioning of the Palestinian state can lead to a final settlement of the Middle East conflict,” Putin said.
CC0: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 public-domain dedication.