‘We Are Not Leaving Our Gaza’

“We are not leaving.” This is one of the most frequent comments made by Gazans that they will not exit Gaza and/or depart their destroyed homes.

Other comments are that “we are staying on the rubble of our houses” and “in our ramshackle tents no matter what,” adding “we rather die than leave Gaza.”

Since 7 October 2023 and the Israeli war onslaught on Gaza started, the number of people who left Gaza has not exceeded 100,000 people. This is out of a total population of over two million people.

And this is despite the mass slaughter and genocide perpetrated by Israel. More than 43,600 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 102,900 others injured, according to local health authorities in Gaza.

Nobody is leaving also, despite the fact that over two million people have been displaced and are leaving in displaced shelters and tents.

Such is the steadfastness of the Palestinians of Gaza in the face of the Israeli army and extremist politicians who have been forcing Gazans to leave to Sinai and Jordan through mass starving them and killing a great many of the Strip’s population.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Gaza Artist Paints From Rooftop of Destroyed Home

Palestinian artist turns rubble into memory. She paints from the rooftop of a home that was destroyed by the Israeli warplanes.

Her name is Janana Abu Harbeed. The Palestinian artist returned to northern Gaza and found her studio totally destroyed, but she promised herself that she would not be beaten and resumed her artwork on the rooftop of her family’s home in Gaza City.

Through her paintings, Abu Harbeed documents the experiences of displaced Palestinians and the suffering caused by the ongoing displacement, using art as a way to preserve stories and memories amid widespread destruction.

Visual artist Janna Abu Harbeed, 21, continues to pursue her passion for painting despite losing her father and younger brother, enduring repeated displacement, and having her home and all of her artwork destroyed during the war in Gaza. Janna began painting at the age of 10, but was forced to stop after the outbreak of the war before returning to art as a way to express hope and resilience amid the devastation.

Janna continues to paint in the courtyard of her destroyed home in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, west of Gaza City. She also finds comfort at Gaza’s seashore, which offers her a rare sense of peace amid the harsh conditions. She says art is more than a hobby—it is a message that reflects the suffering of the Palestinian people and their determination to hold on to life. Janna dreams of exhibiting her work internationally to share her voice with the world, but the continued closure of Gaza’s border crossings has prevented her from achieving that dream. Her story embodies the determination of Palestinian youth to hold on to creativity and hope despite immense loss and destruction.

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CROSSFIREARABIA – The Netherlands announced, Tuesday, the banning of the import of products into the country that come from Israeli settlements which exist on Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank. The banning is to take effect from 22 September, 2026. In a statement the Dutch Foreign Ministry said the new procedures are line with the country’s international legal obligations. It further stated the ban applies to the import, buying and selling of all products whose source is from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories. Through this decision, the Netherlands joins Ireland, Belgium and Spain in applying conditions on trading with Israeli settlements. Today, there are many voices in the European Union which comprises 27 countries that call for unified conditions restricting trading with Israeli settlements according to the Palestine Information Center.  

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