“He insisted that we all take a photo; it was the first in the last 12 years since we got married, as if he was feeling his death was approaching,” says Ghada al-Khatib, widow of Awni al-Khatib at their home in al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City. Awni al-Khatib died a few days of the brain damage he suffered since 1990 when he was shot in the head by an Israeli-fired, rubber-coated steel bullet. Awni is one of thousands of Palestinians who sustained injuries from such bullets during the first intifada that broke out in 1987. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza’s Shati’ refugee camp. Read more about A living martyr 

“We are in a prison. Our situation is so miserable in the arena the Egyptian authorities have placed us in. Yesterday a 45-year-old woman pilgrim died in front of us,” says Nayef al-Khaldi. The 55-year-old al-Khaldi is stuck at an arena turned into a shelter at the Egyptian border town at al-Arish along with more than 1,100 other Palestinians following the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Hajj pilgrims stranded in Egypt 

A few months ago, a European professional in Ramallah threw a farewell party after completing part of the project for which he was recruited. The European himself, a Belgian, spent many years previously in the Palestinian territories and was very well liked locally, not least because he married a Palestinian woman, but that’s another story. A friend and old colleague of mine came up to me at the party and asked me discretely about A., a good-looking and outgoing woman who works with us. Read more about A Palestinian love story 

Last night the rains finally arrived in Beit Jala, a small town in the West Bank, one kilometer west of Bethlehem and about eight kilometers south of Jerusalem. Its alluring hills are covered with olive trees, vineyards and apricots. In 1967 Israel confiscated 22 percent of Beit Jala’s land. Now, the construction of Israel’s separation wall is in full swing and will cut off another 45 per cent of Beit Jala’s land. We went to visit the area to feel the impact of the wall and listen to the stories of the farmers who didn’t sell their land and choose to resist the its confiscation. Adri Nieuwhof and Amer Madi report from Beit Jala. Read more about Refusing to accept apartheid in Beit Jala 

A 500-meter-long street in the heart of Gaza City is empty of cars and vehicles, but full of men, women and children. Omar al-Mokhtar Street is considered the largest commercial area in Gaza where people from all over the coastal region have always come to shop, especially during the holiday season. In recent days, Gaza, like other Islamic communities around the world, prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, a major holiday marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. Normally a time of joy, this year’s Eid is different from past years because Gaza suffers from the tight Israeli closures on all travel and commercial crossings. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Gazans say this Eid is the worst ever 

In the dirty streets of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, the sparse fruit stands carry only rotten fruit, because it is all the market’s vendors can afford to sell, and all the refugees can afford to buy. “It will still be gone in an hour,” says Dr. Mona El-Farra, “because they have to eat something.” Of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents more than 60 percent are under 18. The effects of malnutrition are seen not only in the kids’ hunger, but also in their brain function. They are unable to focus in school, and have become violent. Sarah Price reports from Gaza. Read more about Building hope from rubble 

Thousands gathered at the presidential compound in Ramallah on 3 December 2007 to welcome 429 Palestinian prisoners just released from Israeli jails as part of what Israel has called a “goodwill” gesture. Nonetheless, behind the cheering and flag waving, the feeling was bittersweet as the families of the released were overjoyed to have their loved ones returned, while there remained an atmosphere of cynicism towards Israel’s “gesture.” Jesse Rosenfeld writes from Ramallah. Read more about Prisoner release clouded by thousands still in custody 

With the majority of gas stations closed in Gaza due to the escalating fuel crisis, a group of local Gaza taxi drivers shared the fuel in their cars’ tanks, for the sake of going back home, rather than earning a living under already dire economic conditions. Majed Abu Sam’an, a driver of a Hyundai taxi minibus, was parked along with other drivers in mid-day Tuesday, 4 December 2007, siphoning gasoline from his car’s tank into that of another. “We are helping him so he can go back home, as he has been stuck here in Gaza City since the early hours of morning. We went to all the gas stations but they were closed, no fuel to buy,” says Abu Sama’an. Rami Almeghari reports for EI. Read more about "No fuel, no gasoline, no benzene" 

“We had been waiting for an urgent referral to an outside hospital for the past six days, until he died today,” said Dr. Ismail Yassin Monday, in response to the death of one more patient at the Gaza Children’s Hospital. Tamer al-Yazji, a 12-year-old chicken pox patient, died on Monday on his hospital bed after his referral to an Israeli hospital had been delayed. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari talks to Gaza health care workers and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel about Israel denying Gazans access to health care and the reports of Shabak pressuring patients to inform in exchange for permission to travel. Read more about "A matter of revenge": Israel denying medical treatment to Gaza 

Ayda is yet another victim of Israel’s devastating closure of Gaza. While her husband, 37-year-old Zakariya Abdelal from the Gaza City neighborhood of al-Tuffah, was receiving condolences from friends and neighbors, their youngest son, 10-month-old baby Mustafah, lay calmly in the corner. Thirty-one-year-old mother of seven Ayda died after losing her fight with breast cancer, which necessitated chemotherapy treatment currently unavailable in Gaza. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from Gaza. Read more about Mother dies after being denied access to health care