Since Israel’s total closure of Gaza began over 16 months ago, the Palestinian residents of the tiny coastal strip have relied on smuggling to meet their basic subsistence needs. A recent United Nations report stated that Gaza’s local market is beholden to the tunnel trade or “death trade,” which has so far claimed the lives of 40 people. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports. Read more about Gaza's flourishing tunnel trade 

Experience of terror and trauma is the norm for children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially those living in the Gaza Strip. As the Israeli siege creates a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, an entire generation of traumatized children suffers an absence of psychological care. Sameh A. Habeeb writes from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about A generation of traumatized children 

In November 2006 a horrible war crime was committed in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army. The operation was not directed at militants who were heading to fight Israel, but at a poor family. This action was committed by the same Israeli army which bulldozed Palestinian farms and crushed cars and houses. I remember every single detail of what happened that day in Beit Hanoun. Sameh A. Habeeb recalls the massacre. Read more about Remembering Beit Hanoun 

Ramadan al-Hour’s four children have not seen their father for the past year. Ranging in age from five years to four months old, Amal, Aya, Sulaf and Walid live with their mother in the town of Kufr Qassem inside Israel. Israeli authorities have prevented al-Hour’s wife and children from entering Gaza. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about No Eid with the siege 

Thirteen-year-old Alaa has grown up in Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp and her family’s home is an example of the typical “old-new” refugee camp dwellings. Comprised of three rooms, a wretched kitchen and an old-fashioned bathroom, the whole house is in need of urgent repair. Alaa lives in the same unhealthy house with her mother, two brothers and three sisters. Although poor, Alaa is a brilliant student. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about In Gaza, succeeding against the odds 

Tears filled the eyes of Ramattan News Agency’s Head of African Operations Hayyan Jubeh when he caught his first glimpse of the skyline on the coast of Gaza along the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea after a 37-hour voyage launched from Cyprus. Jubeh, 48, a Palestinian filmmaker from Jerusalem, is one of 44 international peace activists on board the ships. Sami Abu Salem writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Ramattan reporter reaches Gaza on board the Liberty 

In Gaza City, scores of journalists participated in a rally condemning an official Israeli statement clearing Israeli soldiers of wrongdoing in the killing of Palestinian journalist Fadel Shana’a. Protesters demanded an international probe and chanted slogans such as “we are keeping up on your path Fadel, as you lay in rest.” EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about No justice for murdered journalist 

On Sunday, hundreds of Hamas supporters, many stranded Gaza patients, students and travelers, took part in a rally at the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing terminal in southern Gaza, against the continued closure of the terminal for the past 14 months and calling on Egypt to reopen it. The attendees blamed the Egyptian leadership for the terminal closure, saying that this crossing, Gaza’s sole outlet to the outside world, should be opened under joint Palestinian-Egyptian control. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Challenging the siege from Rafah to Cyprus 

In the past two weeks, the Hamas-dominated interior ministry in Gaza has closed scores of Gaza-based non-governmental organizations. According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City, the Hamas-dominated government has closed 179 institutions in Gaza, including those providing services to women, children and people with disabilities. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari reports. Read more about Gaza organizations caught in the crossfire 

These days Rami Abdo’s duties include gardening, teaching and caring for his 10-year-old nephew. Abdo, a 30-year-old student from Gaza City, is still waiting along with hundreds of others to attend universities abroad since Israel has closed all of the Strip’s border crossings. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari reports. Read more about Gaza students still waiting and losing hope