Every day, we feature one story of a person or family surviving in Gaza and one about someone killed there recently, based on media reports.
Follow us on Bluesky.
Three Gazans say they will refuse to evacuate if the Israeli army comes back into Gaza City
The Associated Press asked Gaza City residents to respond to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that the Israeli army will re-occupy the city. All three of those quoted said they would not leave.
“What does (Israel) want from us? ... There is nothing here to occupy. There is no life here. I have to walk every day for more than 15 minutes to get drinking water.” — Umm Youssef
“I have no intention to leave my home, I will die here.” — Kamel Abu Nahel.
“This is our land, there is no other place for us to go. We are not surrendering ... We were born here, and here we die.” — Ismail Zaydah
More at Associated Press
Ehab Fasfous, 52: “They’ve deprived us of so much that now we’re behaving like animals.”
Much of the little aid that comes into Gaza is grabbed off the trucks by hungry Gazans before it can be distributed in an orderly way. Some is taken by armed gangs. The United Nations says hundreds of people have been killed trying to get aid directly from the trucks, mostly by Israeli soldiers.
On Wednesday, Ehab Fasfous, 52, a resident of the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis, inched toward one of the routes that aid trucks use in Gaza, aware, he said, that Israeli soldiers could open fire if he ventured too close. He shared a series of videos of the mayhem he saw next: hundreds, perhaps thousands of people closing in on the trucks from every direction.
At one point in the videos, which he said he took, a man menaces another person with a knife near a bag of flour.
Mr. Fasfous went home empty-handed.
“They’ve deprived us of so much that now we’re behaving like animals,” he said.
More at The New York Times
Mohammed Imran, Ehab al-Helou, and Sabrine Mahmoud: three reactions to Netanyahu’s decision to occupy all of the Gaza strip
Mohammed Imran from Khan Younis said the change in terminology from “occupation” to “control” made little difference. “Replace the word ‘occupation’ with ‘control’ – the meaning and the result are the same: destruction and displacement,” he told the BBC. “We have nothing but God as long as those holding power in Gaza (Hamas) have lost their minds.”
Ehab al-Helou, activist and social media influencer: “I swear to God, Hamas leaders are living in a science fiction world. Have mercy on the people. Who are you to decide to sacrifice us?” he posted online.
Sabrine Mahmoud: “I will not leave my house. We will not live through displacement again. We left Gaza City for a whole year and endured the harshest humiliation in al-Mawasi. We will not repeat the mistake. Let them destroy the house over our heads – we will not leave.”
More at BBC
Kareem and Ayman, 12-year-old twin cousins of U.S. citizen Ghada Tafesh
Gaza-born, new U.S. citizen Ghada Tafesh used to swap recipes and photos of dinner spreads with her aunt Fairouz. Those days are gone. Her 12-year-old twin cousins look up at her from her phone with gaunt, exhausted faces. They have lost a quarter of their body weight.
Fairouz says it’s too dangerous to try to get food directly from the scarce aid trucks. They buy from street hawkers when they can — $20 for a tomato.
“I just hope that people in the United States would see Palestinians in Gaza as individuals rather than numbers,” says Ghada
More information: Washington Post
Dr. Ali Alhaj Salem, neo-natal intensive care specialist, Al-Helou Hospital, whose Instagram post struck a chord in Israel
Dr. Ali Alhaj Salem posted a short video on Instagram from inside his neo-natal intensive care unit in Al-Helou Hospital, showing the babies he is trying to care for.
Many were born prematurely because their mothers are malnourished, he said. The special formula for premature babies is “not available in our market,” he says in a matter-of-fact voice, but the hospital is making do with formula for full-term babies. Dr. Salem himself looks very thin.
Dr. Salem’s Instagram post moved Israeli designer Mushon Zer-Aviv, who wrote about it in the New York Times. Zer-Aviv’s own child was born three months prematurely and weighed less than two pounds. But all of human society had provided the specialist care, equipment, and supplies Zer-Aviv’s baby needed to survive and thrive. Not so today for Dr. Salem’s little patients born in Gaza.
More information at Instagram and the New York Times
Laylah Ziyarah and her baby son, Hani, who lost a leg in a bombing
“… On 22 February 2025, I gave birth to Hani. The joy was immense. I told him he brought us hope because he was born when the war ended. But the joy didn’t last long. Less than a month later, the war started again with even greater brutality. The house next to ours was bombed, and we were rescued from under the rubble, covered in dust. Hani’s face was black from the debris.
“We moved back to my parents’ house. There were eight of us there. On 21 June 2025, the house was bombed while we were inside. At that moment, I was sitting breastfeeding Hani with the kids and my sisters. There was a massive explosion. I heard walls collapsing, stones falling, and glass shattering, and then there was thick smoke and complete darkness. We couldn’t see each other. I heard voices screaming, crying and asking, ‘Is everyone okay? Who’s hurt?’
“I felt for Hani’s head, then his body. When I reached his right leg, it was simply gone. …”
More from B’Tselem, an Israeli non-governmental organization
A day in the life of Abeer and Fadi Sobh and their six children
Washing in seawater in the morning, getting the kids to sleep more during the day, waiting by the soup kitchen that’s rarely open, begging for food when it’s not. Sometimes, someone shares a little.
More information at Associated Press
What happened when Maher Al-Hattab tried to get food from the GHF, and why Basel Hasouna decided not to go
Maher Al-Hattab, 19, plucked up his nerve and joined the crowds outside one of the collection sites for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the U.S.- and Israeli-backed food distribution outfit. system that's replaced the U.N. aid system in Gaza.
Israeli troops fired at them as they waited for food. Hattab, lying in the sand, saw people hit.
When the trucks arrived with less food than expected, Hattab says people fought over it, some with knives. Hattab survived. He came away with enough food for his family for two days.
…
Basel Hasouna has five hungry children, but he says the people who need food the most are not getting it, and dozens of people have been killed just this week approaching the GHF or aid trucks. He doesn’t want his son to be humiliated trying to get food. He says they would rather die of hunger at home.
More information at NPR
Nehma Hamouda, grandmother of orphaned infant
Nehma Hamouda’s daughter gave birth prematurely after she was shot by Israeli soldiers. That was three months ago. Several weeks later, the new mother died.
Since then, Nehma has been trying to take take of her tiny grandchild, Muntaha. Muntaha can’t yet process solid food, even if there was some. Nehma can’t get baby formula.
“I resort to tea for the girl,” Hamouda said. “She’s not eating, and there’s no sugar. Where can I get her sugar? I give her a bit [of anise], and she drinks a bit.”
“At times, when we get lentil soup from the soup kitchen, I strain the water, and I try to feed her. What can I do?”
More information: Al Jazeera
Rahaf Saed, 3-year-old double amputee featured on U.S. children’s television
Rahaf Saed lost both of her legs in an Israeli airstrike in August, 2024. Several months later, she was brought to the United States for medical care. She can now walk and dance on prosthetic limbs. “Ms Rachel” filmed a program with her that is due to air on YouTube this fall.
The Washington Post story includes a one-minute video of Rahaf and Rachel singing and dancing “Hop Little Bunnies.”
More information: Washington Post
Edward Antone, audio recording about the attack on Holy Family Church
Doctors Without Borders driver Edward Antone was not in Holy Family Church when it was struck by Israeli forces on July 17, but his family was. Two people were killed and several wounded including his three-year-old son, hit in the leg by shrapnel.
Antone made an audio recording describing the attack.
More information: Doctors Without Borders
Saeed Abu Libda, wounded trying to get flour for his family — but he survived
As famine spreads through Gaza, the few food trucks are often looted, either by armed gangs or by people who are just desperate to feed their families.
Saeed Abu Libda, a 44 year-old father of five, recently managed to pick up one sack of flour when a truck passed by near Khan Younis. "I know it was risky but we need to eat," he told DW by phone.
Abu Libda said there were thousands of people waiting for the trucks, when suddenly he heard two shells being fired. "I saw people on the ground, some were injured, some were cut to pieces. I was injured by a shrapnel in my abdomen, but luckily it was a light injury.”
More information: dw.com (Deutsche Welle, international broadcaster funded by the government of Germany)
A single mother of eight trying to keep her family alive
Mahasin al-Zaneen, 39, describes herself as “a burning candle that lights the way for others.”
Her husband, a school principal, died of COVID in 2021. She and her eight children have been displaced 10 times since the war began. Their home was reduced to rubble by an Israeli airstrike. But what’s on her mind now is food.
Her daughters feel dizzy. One daughter lost teeth because she doesn't have enough calcium. Her eldest daughter, Rana, a 20-year-old medical student before the war, weighs under 90 pounds.
Some days, a charity kitchen gives them lentils and they get water from a truck that comes by every morning.
Water for breakfast, lentils for lunch - some days, water for dinner. This, says Mahasin, is their life.
More information: NPR (A report broadcast on All Things Considered, June 5, 2025)
Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric ward at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza
“There is no one in Gaza now outside the scope of famine, not even myself,” Dr. al-Farra told the New York Times. “I am speaking to you as a health official, but I, too, am searching for flour to feed my family.”
Dr. al-Farra said the number of children dying of malnutrition had risen sharply in recent days.
More information: New York Times
Khadija Manoun: From a comfortable home to rubble
equipped with electric appliances. But she and her family have been displaced more than 20 times. Now they live in a destroyed building. Her kitchen is a corner of the rubble. The bathroom is another corner, walled of by old blankets.
Clean drinking water is a luxury. She chases water trucks, often returning with empty containers.
Photos on her phone help her remember the home, the food, and the life she had.
More information: UN News
Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, 18 months old
Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, his mother, and his three-year-old brother live in a tent on a Gaza beach. Mohammed’s father was killed last year when he went to seek food.
A photo of his mother holding him in her arms was featured on the front page of the New York Times under the headline, “Gazans are dying of starvation.” He is little more than skin and bones.
“As an adult, I can bear the hunger,” his mother said. “But my kids can’t.”
Mohammed was diagnosed with severe malnutrition by the Friends of the Patient clinic and Al-Rantisi children’s hospital, but there was little they could do, she said. “They told me, ‘His treatment is food and water.’”
More information: New York Times
BBC freelance journalists so hungry they can’t think straight
The BBC and other Western media organizations work with freelance Palestinian journalists to report from Gaza. Israel does not allow Western journalists to enter except on escorted tours. Recently, the BBC shared messages they’ve received from three journalists about the starvation. The BBC did not name them out of fear for their safety.
"I can't describe the feeling," said a cameraman in southern Gaza. "My stomach twists in knots, and I have a headache, add to that being emaciated and weak. I used to work from 07:00 until 22:00 [10 pm] but now I can barely do one story. I just feel dizzy."
Recently, he collapsed while filming but later resumed his work.
Another journalist said he has lost more than 60 pounds. “"I used to complete most news reports with great speed, but now I am slow in finishing them due to my poor health and psychological state," he said. "Delirium and fatigue accompanies me."
More information: Yahoo News
The Abu Jarad family
When Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire last January, hundreds of thousands of Gazans trudged back to the homes in the northern areas that they had abandoned under orders of the Israeli army. Many found their homes demolished. But Ne’man Abu Jarad, his wife Majida, and their children were lucky.
The grove of orange, olive and palm trees that once stood in front of the house was bulldozed away. The flowers on their roof and in their garden were gone. But the house still stood, damaged, but habitable.
One flowering vine in front of the house had miraculously survived. Ne’man immediately set about examining and arranging its tendrils.
After 477 days — fleeing the length of the Gaza Strip, hiding from bombardment, living in tents, scrounging for food and water, losing their possessions — they were home.
More information: Associated Press
Anas Baba, NPR producer
Anas Baba is a native of the Gaza strip. He spends his days interviewing his fellow residents about their lives and their losses.
He told the Washington Post that NPR has encouraged him to take time off but he wants to work every day. “If you give me a day off, you leave me just with my brain, and then I think about all the horror and misery,” he said. “So, no stops.”
Baba himself is starving. He has lost a third of his body weight. “Hunger is a little bit of an addiction,” he reports. “Once it's controlling your own mind, you cannot think straight. Once you feel that your stomach, your brain, your body, are craving something, you will not be afraid of anything. You will do anything to get food.”
On Monday evening, June 23, Baba joined crowds walking toward a distribution site sponsored by the US and Israel and later reported on his trip for NPR. He encountered an Israeli tank firing at the crowd, killing and wounding many. The Gazas had approached because of a rumor that the distribution site was open – it wasn’t. Later, after the site did open, Baba saw a mother who had managed to get some food. She had her child beside her and a knives in both hands, screaming at people not to touch her son or the food.
More information: Washington Post
Hadeel Sbakhi and Abdelrahman Abu Taqyia, Palestinian couple documenting their lives on Instagram
Hadeel Sbakhi and Abdelrahman Abu Taqyia met as university students. They married and started a business today, but their equipment was destroyed in an Israeli attack. Now they are trying to show with their Instagram posts that Gaza is not all tragedy. They struggle to eat and survive, but they also have happiness in their lives. Their Instagram handle has 112,000 followers. They also post on YouTube.
More information: PBS NewsHour