Palestinian journalist Mohammed Al-Helou, who was injured while working in the field in the Gaza Strip, along with the Brussels-based Hind Rajab Foundation, filed a criminal complaint against a dual Belgian-Israeli citizen, accusing him of serving as a sniper in the Israeli army.
The Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported that Al-Helou, 24, currently residing as a refugee in the Netherlands, and the Hind Rajab Foundation submitted a request last week to a Brussels court to open an investigation into a person identified only by his initials (A.B.), believed to be residing in the Belgian capital, as well as others whose identities have not yet been revealed.
According to the complaint, A.B. served in the Refaim sniper unit of an Israeli army battalion and is suspected of involvement in serious violations of international humanitarian law.
While working as a journalist in Gaza, Al-Helou was shot by a sniper while covering events near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis between November 2023 and February 2024, despite wearing protective gear clearly marked “PRESS” to indicate his press credentials.
Al-Helou survived the attack after the bullet struck his protective vest, while his 14-year-old brother was killed during Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Al-Helou and his lawyer, Ian Vermon, from the Hind Rajab Foundation, submitted the complaint along with photos and videos, as well as medical reports and witness testimonies confirming the facts.
The Hind Rajab Foundation works to document and prosecute Israeli military personnel suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The foundation is named after Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl who was killed along with six members of her family in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their car southwest of Gaza City on January 29, 2024.
Established in Brussels in February 2024, the foundation focuses on pursuing legal action against Israeli officials and military personnel in national and international courts. Quds Press
Despite the heavy burden of war, displacement, loss, and deprivation they have endured for nearly three years, many Gazans, especially the youth, have not relinquished their passion for football and following the World Cup matches. They have become a temporary escape from the harsh reality of war.
With the start of the Arab teams’ matches in the world’s most important football tournament, displacement camps in the Gaza Strip have been transformed into something resembling “popular caravans” or open-air cafes, where hundreds of displaced people gather in front of large screens or televisions to watch the matches and cheer on their favorite teams.
In the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, hundreds of Gazans gathered in the main square of the Nuseirat market in front of a giant screen to watch the match between the Egyptian national team and their Belgian counterparts, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Cheers and popular songs filled the air during the match, a scene that brought a measure of vitality back to faces worn down by war.
In the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, some of the tents housing displaced people have been transformed into makeshift cafes. Young men sit on wooden benches in front of televisions to watch matches of the Arab teams participating in the tournament. Some tents are decorated with Egyptian flags, and several young men drape the flags over their shoulders while watching the games.
During major sporting events, Gazans typically make a point of showing their support for the Arab teams, expressing the cultural and social ties that bind them to the Arab world and emphasizing their shared sense of solidarity and belonging.
For many residents of the Gaza Strip, these gatherings represent a rare opportunity for recreation and a break from the pressures of daily life. They also offer a temporary space for joy and engagement with a global event, away from the constant bombardment, displacement, and suffering.
However, watching the World Cup in Gaza is not as easy as it is in other parts of the world. In addition to the dire humanitarian situation and economic collapse, residents face financial, technological, and security challenges that make watching the matches a difficult task.
High Subscription Costs
The high subscription cost of beIN SPORTS channels, the exclusive broadcaster of the tournament, stands out as one of the most significant obstacles, in addition to the large time difference, as most matches are held in the early morning hours due to the United States, Canada, and Mexico co-hosting the tournament.
In an attempt to alleviate this crisis, the sports channels’ agent in Gaza managed to obtain a special exemption from the network’s headquarters in Qatar, allowing the reactivation of older equipment within the Gaza Strip, taking into account the exceptional circumstances faced by the residents. This exemption was granted for monthly subscriptions ranging between 350 and 420 shekels (US$120-150), providing some cafes and fans with a limited opportunity to watch the matches.
Alternatives, but Not Enough
Other alternatives are no more readily available. Free Turkish or Iranian channels may broadcast some matches, but they lack the Arabic commentary that has become a cherished part of the Arab public’s experience with major tournaments.
On the other hand, IPTV services rely on a stable internet connection, which has become virtually impossible given the extensive damage inflicted on the telecommunications infrastructure during the war.
Security Concerns Over Renewed Israeli Bombing
The suffering of Gazans is not limited to material and technical aspects; it also extends to security concerns. Gathering in cafes or public squares to watch matches has become fraught with danger due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment, prompting many to avoid going out at night. Despite this, some cafes continue to broadcast matches at night, even with the possibility of renewed Israeli attacks.
Despite all these challenges, football remains a rare outlet for many Gazans and a way to cling to life, a temporary attempt to postpone the pain of war and engage, even for a few hours, in a collective joy that restores some semblance of normalcy.
Since October 8, 2013, Israel, with American and European support, has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, including killing, starvation, destruction, displacement, and arrests, ignoring international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to cease its actions.
The genocide has left more than 246,000 Palestinians dead and/or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced people and with a famine that claimed the lives of many, most of them children, as well as widespread destruction and the erasure of most of the cities and areas of the Gaza Strip from the map. Quds Press
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continues to treat scores of patients suffering from life-changing injuries, chronic pain, and psychological trauma sustained while attempting to access food assistance from US-backed, so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites. This militarized food distribution scheme launched one year ago but only ran for six months before being forced to stop after significant controversy and criticism.
The GHF, which replaced a 400-site UN-coordinated aid distribution system, was run by Israel with financial support from the United States and other allies. GHF sites became operational on May 26, 2025, and were “secured” by private American armed contractors, with Israeli forces maintaining control over the wider perimeter.
US-backed aid distribution points are sites of orchestrated killing
Violence occurring at and related to GHF’s four distribution points led to deaths and injuries for thousands of people who were desperately seeking food during Israel’s months-long total blockade.
The legacy of the GHF is widespread violence against hungry people
“As MSF has documented with medical evidence, people who were seeking food in desperate and siege-like conditions suffered horrendous levels of targeted and indiscriminate violence,” said Joan Tubau, MSF head of mission for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Children were shot in the chest while reaching for food, people were crushed or suffocated in stampedes, and entire crowds were gunned down at distribution points. Today, many GHF-related patients are entirely dependent on charity and community kitchens due to their mobility issues and lack of ability to work and provide for their families.”
People who were seeking food in desperate and siege-like conditions suffered horrendous levels of targeted and indiscriminate violence.Joan Tubau, MSF head of mission for the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Between June and October 2025, MSF teams recorded at least 32 deaths and treated 1,885 patients for injuries linked to the GHF sites at MSF’s Al-Attar and Al-Mawasi primary health care centers in Khan Younis.
Neama Awad
“Even if it meant death, I had to go bring food”
I am from Miraj, originally from Rafah. Everything was destroyed. The occupation came near us. They were shooting at our children and here too we are displaced. I only wish to return home. Honestly, my situation is very bad. I am sick, and my husband is sick.
I went looking for a loaf of bread. I went walking as I don’t even have one shekel for transportation. One day people came and said, ‘Go to the aid point in Al-Tina to get food.’ I said I would go. I wanted to bring food for my children. There was no food, nothing. We became skin and bones. I went to the aid distribution because we had no support at home — no flour, no food, no aid reaching us, not even a loaf of bread.
“My friend was executed in front of my eyes,” said Karim, a former barber who suffered life-changing injuries permanently damaging a nerve in his leg. “It still haunts me. Both of us were caught and handcuffed [by Israeli soldiers] behind our backs. A drone hovered above me, and four men were asked to take me away.”
Mustafa, a taxi driver from Rafah, developed a heel infection that caused rotting after a gunshot wound broke two of his bones as he was trying to access food. His 17-year-old nephew was shot in the head and killed by a sniper.
“[It] was so humiliating,” Mustapha said. “Thousands of people would run towards [the food], then the IDF would shoot on us from fixed points. Two thirds of the injured people in Gaza I know were cases from GHF.”
Saad Hussein, MSF patient
“Hunger: That is what made us go”
I am from southern Rafah. Neither our grandfather nor the many displaced people before us lived through this. So many homes were destroyed. Everyone was displaced. We were living in the Iqlimi area, but with the famine and everything that was happening, we were forced to leave. We have children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. We had to take whatever we could because nothing was available. We were forced to go to the American aid distribution points.
We had no clean food, no clean clothes, no clean bathrooms. Nothing was clean. We did not eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We would bring lentils from the community kitchen and survive on them until the next day. My mother, my brothers, my brother’s six orphaned children, my brother’s wife, me, my mother, and my father. God is with us and with them.
The GHF also played a key role in the malnutrition crisis manufactured by Israel. The drastic reduction of food and aid distribution points compounded by the total siege, intensified violence, mass displacement, and destruction of health facilities had a direct role in the famine declared in mid-2025, with devastating consequences on vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, newborns, and children.
“Nothing about GHF was a humanitarian solution,” Tubau said. “One year on, the magnitude of the harm inflicted on people at GHF distribution points without any accountability requires an independent investigation. Israel has an obligation to ensure unhindered humanitarian access and condemns aid models, including the GHF, that fail to alleviate suffering.”
My friend was executed in front of my eyes. It still haunts me. Both of us were caught and handcuffed [by Israeli soldiers] behind our backs.Karim, MSF patient
This militarized system of aid delivery resulted in significant harm and suffering and should never be replicated. Israel, the US, and all actors of influence to ensure that aid is non-militarized, accessible, and built on independence, impartiality, neutrality, and humanity. Civilians must be able to safely reach humanitarian assistance — based on vulnerability and need — wherever they choose to reside, and at scale.
*Names of patients have been changed for their safety.
KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA—Ahmed Al-Harsh waited outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday to meet his son, a toddler and the only other survivor of his entire family.
“I’m waiting for my son Mahmoud. I haven’t seen him in two and a half years except once, before he was transferred to Egypt. I’ve been waiting for two and a half years,” Al-Harsh, 31, told Drop Site News.
Mahmoud is one of 28 Palestinian infants who were evacuated to Egypt as premature babies in November 2023 from the neonatal intensive care unit in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, as the Israeli military laid siege to the medical complex and raided it. Mahmoud and seven other children were returned to Gaza on Monday to be reunited with their families, or what was left of them.
On October 14, 2023, one week into Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, the Israeli military bombed the Al-Harsh’s family home in the Jabaliya refugee camp. Al-Harsh’s entire family was killed in the attack—his four-year-old daughter, his father, mother, brother, sisters-in-law, nephews, and nieces. Al-Harsh initially thought his wife, who was eight months pregnant at the time, had also been killed. He only later learned that she had been gravely injured and had given birth to their son, Mahmoud, in hospital before succumbing to her injuries.
(Left) Ahmed Al-Harsh outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as he waits for his son, Mahmoud, to arrive after 2.5 years in Egypt. (Right) Ahmed Al-Harsh holds up a photo of his son Mahmoud on his phone. March 30, 2026. Screenshots of video provided by Abdel Qader Sabbah.
Al-Harsh was able to see Mahmoud only once before he was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit in Al-Shifa’s hospital for care. He had been staying in Beit Lahia, unable to move amid the escalating Israeli assault. In November, Israel laid siege to Al-Shifa hospital, surrounding the medical complex and cutting it off from the rest of Gaza City before raiding it on November 15. Doctors inside scrambled to keep their patients alive, including the nearly 40 premature babies in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, Mahmoud among them. There was no electricity and incubators were failing. The World Health Organization, which was able to coordinate a one-hour visit to Al-Shifa at the time, described the hospital as a “death zone.”
After much negotiation, 31 premature babies were evacuated from Al-Shifa on November 19 and taken to Rafah. UNICEF said the conditions of the babies had been “rapidly deteriorating” inside the besieged hospital. Five died before they could be evacuated. The next day, 28 of the babies were transported across the border to Egypt for treatment. None were accompanied by family members.
For the past two and a half years, Al-Harsh has seen his son only in photos or videos sent to him from Egypt—first as an infant, then a toddler. “The feeling is indescribable. What can I tell you about this feeling?” he said. “These two years felt like forty, even more—a lifetime. During this time, I was a body without a soul. I couldn’t work or do anything.”
Video of the convoy arriving at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis bringing eight children who were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt in November 2023. March 30, 2026. Video provided by Abdel Qader Sabbah.
By early afternoon on Monday, the convoy from Egypt finally arrived. A Red Crescent ambulance and UN vehicles escorted a large bus carrying the children. Families crowded around the doors as they pulled up outside Nasser Hospital. The children were passed into the waiting arms of family members, most of them meeting for the first time, in scenes of joy. Al-Harsh appeared overwhelmed with emotion as he held Mahmoud, chubby, bespectacled and crying, in his arms. When Mahmoud grabbed a bottle of water and drank thirstily, Al-Harsh broke down and wept.
“Every human being needs the love of a mother and father. I am 31, I lost my mother and father, and I’m still suffering,” Al-Harsh said. “This boy—where do I find him a mother? Where do I find him his mother? When he grows up and asks about his mother, what do I tell him?”
At least four of the babies who were evacuated to Egypt died while there, Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, the director of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, told Drop Site. He added that the children who returned to Gaza, while healthy, would require additional medical and psychiatric evaluation.
Gaza’s health care system has been systematically destroyed by the Israeli military since October 2023. Every single hospital was attacked and 25 were completely shut down while 13 remain partially functioning, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Despite a “ceasefire” that went into effect in October, Israel has continued near daily attacks in Gaza, killing over 700 Palestinians since then. Israel has also continued to severely restrict the amount of humanitarian aid, fuel, medicine and other essentials, allowing in an average of only 200 trucks daily instead of the 600 agreed upon in the deal.
At the onset of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran on February 28, Israel reinforced a total siege on Gaza, citing “security concerns.” The Kerem Shalom crossing was partially reopened three days later. The Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt—which had only opened in early February for medical evacuations and for Palestinians returning to Gaza—was also closed at the onset of the Iran war and only reopened on March 18. Roughly 20,000 people are on waiting lists for medical evacuation abroad, 4,000 of them children, according to the Health Ministry.
The Gaza Health Ministry this week warned of a severe shortage of generator fuel that threatened hospital operations. The Ministry said that remaining generators are “worn out and prone to repeated breakdowns,” placing critical departments such as intensive care, surgery, neonatal units, and dialysis at risk of shutting down. Israeli forces have allowed the entry of only 1,240 fuel trucks out of the 8,350 that were supposed to enter over the 167 days since the ceasefire agreement took effect—a compliance rate of just 14.8%—according to the latest statistics from officials in Gaza shared with mediators and obtained by Drop Site. The Health Ministry warned that 90 generators are already out of service, while 11 are running on limited supplies. All hospitals in Gaza remain fully dependent on emergency back-up generators, according to OCHA.
Regardless of the continued Israeli siege and daily military assaults, the families who were finally reunited with their children in Gaza on Monday after nearly two and a half years of separation, described the moment as nothing short of miraculous.
Sundus Al-Kurd was among them. She was badly wounded in an Israeli airstrike on her family home in Beit Lahia on October 22, 2023. Her daughter Habibat Al-Rahman was killed in the attack. Eight months pregnant, Al-Kurd was rushed to hospital where doctors operated on her to save her life and conducted an emergency delivery to save her unborn daughter, Bissan.
“On the day I gave birth to my daughter, I lost her only sister,” Al Kurd said.
“When I woke up, I asked, ‘Where is my daughter?’ They told me, ‘Your daughter is fine and doing well,’” she added. “They told me she was in an incubator and that due to my health condition I wouldn’t be able to care for her.”
Al-Kurd continued to recover from her injuries and was unable to see her daughter before the Israeli military attacked Al-Shifa in November 2023.
“I was evacuated from the hospital with difficulty and I asked to take my daughter with me, but they said I wouldn’t be able to care for her due to my medical condition,” she said.
Having lost her other daughter, parents, and two siblings during the war, Al-Kurd said she could not bear the thought of losing Bissan, whom she described as “a gift and compensation from God.” Al-Kurd did not know what had happened to her daughter until much later when she found out she had been among the 28 premature babies evacuated to Egypt.
Sundus Al-Kurd holds up a traditional Palestinian dress she brought for her daughter Bissan, who returned to Gaza after being evacuated to Egypt 2.5 years ago for medical treatment. Khan Younis. March 30, 2026. Screenshot of video by Abdel Qader Sabbah.
“Today, after two and a half years, God willing, we will be reunited with our daughter,” Al-Kurd said. She brought a traditional Palestinian dress for Bissan to wear. When her daughter finally arrived in the convoy to Nasser hospital, Al-Kurd held her tightly before dressing her in the white and red dress as relatives took turns embracing her.
“I am meeting my daughter for the first time,” she said. “It’s as if today is the day of her birth. I can’t describe my feelings.” Drop Site
CROSSFIREARABIA- Twlelve Palestinians were killed in Gaza, Sunday, by Israeli military strikes according to the local civil defense force. They were targeted in the areas beyond the ‘yellow line’ which the Israeli army controls.
Five were killed in Jabalia in north Gaza as a result of strike on a tent housing displaced people, five killed in Khan Younis, one killed in Gaza City and one was killed in Beit Lahia by Israeli gunfire.
Since the ceasefire was declared on 11 October 2025 Israel has killed at least 601 civilians while 1607 were injured.
Since the US-brokered ceasefire took effect last October Israel made a point of violating it by 1620 times and the number grows by the day with Israel showing no intention of stopping with at least 560 documented cases of direct shooting according to the Gaza Media office.
CrossFireArabia
