DEVASTATED GAZA
The war between the Israeli army and Hamas militants in Gaza, dubbed Operation Cast Lead, lasted for 22 unrelenting days from 27 December 2008 until 18 January 2009. In the wake of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, shell-shocked Palestinians returned to their homes, many damaged beyond repair, to mourn their lost relatives.

A boy is looking for his toys in what is left of the family house, where the walls are full of gunshots. The Israeli-Hamas war lasted for 22 days, and in the wake of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, surviving Palestinians returned to homes crushed beyond repair and mourning of lost relatives. 13 Israelis and more than 1300 Palestinians were killed. An estimated 4000 buildings were destroyed. 50.000 Gazans were left homeless, and the areas where Israeli tanks and artillery poured in at the start of the ground war are devastated: Beit Lahiya, El Atatra and large sections of Jabaliya, as well as the outer Gaza City neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Toufah.

Mohammed Derba will not get older than 21 years. The young Gaza fisherman lies braindead at Shifa hospital in Gaza City. His beard is neat and his chest raises and lowers itself as the respirator ensures that his lungs and heart function. But in a few days he will get infections. He will get pneumonia, and his heart rate will decrease and become erratic. And then he will die a natural death. Alone. Without a single family member by his side.

Nazek Al Kabari (right) have just returned to the ruins of his home, and the man and five of his eight children sit and drink tea in front of the house. Virtually the entire Abed Rabbo district in Jabaliya in Gaza City has been razed to the ground. “What should we do? We have no money. We don’t have anywhere else to live? All our savings are gone. God bless that none of us is hurt, but we have nothing left to live for.”

The narrow, secret tunnels used for smuggling goods, arms and people across the border at Rafah under the border between Egypt and Gaza. About 80 percent of the tunnels was supposed to be destroyed or damaged in the three-week Israeli airstrike of Gaza, but a week after they are in the process of being repaired. Ahmed, who will remain anonymous, is deep within a damaged tunnel to dig it out.

For the first time in four weeks, the people of Gaza could go to Friday prayer without fear of bombs. Next to the ruins of the Al-Khalofa mosque in Jabaliya, Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri spoke. The message was clear and predictable: Israel has not wiped out Hamas, Israel are cowards and the Islamic fighters are martyrs and heroes.

For the first time in four weeks, the people of Gaza could go to Friday prayer without fear of bombs. Next to the ruins of the Al-Khalofa mosque in Jabaliya, Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri spoke. The message was clear and predictable: Israel has not wiped out Hamas, Israel are cowards and the Islamic fighters are martyrs and heroes.

Palestinian boys walk next to dead horses after an Israeli military strike in al-Atatra in Gaza City.

It is the first day in school after the Gaza war, and school psychologist are busy talking with traumatized children at Omnel Fahem School in Beit Lahiya. Six year old Abdel Aziz is one of them. The reopening of schools, a week after a tentative cease-fire, marked a small step back to normalcy for Gaza’s 1.4 million residents.

Everywhere in the worst affected areas in Gaza families come home to houses completely destroyed by Israeli soldiers. A family lives in the remains of their house in al-Atatra in Gaza City. The Israeli-Hamas war lasted for 22 days, and in the wake of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, surviving Palestinians returned to homes crushed beyond repair and mourning of lost relatives. 13 Israelis and more than 1300 Palestinians were killed.

Tens of thousands of children returned to schools across Gaza on Saturday after three weeks of war, playing games for some relief from the devastation and telling friends and teachers about the explosions they heard and relatives they lost. Many students in the Omnel Fahem school in Beit Lahiya shoved up with no school uniform, as it was lost in collapsed houses.