Advertisement

Photos: Amid the debris, Gaza mourns loss of life and looks to rebuild

Palestinian families huddle amid the rubble to attend a candlelight vigil in Gaza City.
Palestinian families huddle Tuesday during a candlelight vigil, which condemned the killing of children and civilians, over the rubble of homes destroyed by an Israeli military strike in Gaza City. Egyptian mediators helped broker the cease-fire after 11 days of fighting between Israel and Gaza military factions.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Share via

Life is struggling to return to normal in the Gaza Strip.

The little 140-square-mile enclave experienced a relentless barrage of fierce Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardment aimed at Gaza that reduced parts of the impoverished, densely populated enclave — including residential towers, commercial centers, schools, roads and other infrastructure — to rubble.

Today, Gaza City is slowly humming back to life. Volunteers fill the streets with brooms, shovels and masks. They clear rubble and debris. Children hang off metal rebars and play amongst the rubble. Family members grieve for their loved ones who died in the conflict. Military music from loudspeakers fills the streets, and the sound of an unmanned drone buzzes overhead.

When I visited the enclave three years ago, the living conditions were deteriorating. Homes and businesses could count on no more than three or four hours of electricity a day, most of the water was undrinkable, medical supplies were dwindling, and hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties from the 2018 protests.

The armed conflict that erupted May 10 and lasted for 11 days killed more than 243 Palestinians in Gaza, including 66 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. In Israel, 12 people, including two children, were killed as a result of more than 4,000 rockets fired out of Gaza by Hamas militants.

Advertisement

Hamas militants fired rockets toward Israel in response to the clashes between Israeli authorities and Palestinian protesters at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Tensions were already high at the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, where some Palestinian families face eviction by Jewish settlers.

An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire reached Friday brings momentary peace and calm to grieve and recover what was lost on both sides.

A small group of women and children hold candles at a vigil in Gaza City.
Palestinian women and children hold candles at a vigil in Gaza City. More than 243 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed in the 11 days of fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Palestinian children hold up candles and weep as they attend a candlelight vigil in Gaza City.
Palestinian children hold up candles and weep as they attend a candlelight vigil Tuesday in Gaza City.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Palestinian men surrounded by rubble pray after sunset.
Palestinian men, surrounded by the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli military airstrikes, pray after sunset Tuesday. In Israel, 12 people, including two children, were killed as a result of more than 4,000 rockets fired out of Gaza by Hamas militants, authorities say.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the Al-Madhoun family gather in Gaza City.
Members of the Al-Madhoun family mourn Tuesday for Abdul Rahim Mohammed Madhoun and his wife, Haijar Abu Sharkh al-Madhoun, and others who died and lost their homes during the Israeli airstrikes.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
Rabah Al-Madhoun sits in front of the remains of his building in Gaza City.
Rabah Al-Madhoun sits in front of the remains of the building he owned in Gaza City, now destroyed in the bombardment.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Palestinian pedestrians near a bombed-out car in Gaza City
Palestinian men in Gaza City on Tuesday walk past a car damaged in a military strike.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A shopkeeper exits a store damaged by bombings in Gaza City.
Shopkeepers try to salvage what they can from their stores in the heavily damaged Shorouq building in Gaza City on Monday.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A Palestinian woman covers herself as truck sprays water in the street.
A Palestinian woman covers herself as a truck sprays water to keep errant dust from spreading as volunteers begin recovery work at the fallen Hanadi tower in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on Tuesday.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

More visual journalism from the Los Angeles Times

Advertisement