Gaza City – They declared victory and handed out sweets as if the war had ended. But for the people of Gaza, the suffering never stopped. The ceasefire lasted nearly 50 days before collapsing, yet in that time, the killing did not end, and none of the disasters that have devastated Gaza were addressed.
Thousands of bodies remain buried beneath the rubble, an unbearable reminder that life in Gaza is defined by destruction. Chaos rules every aspect of daily existence. Salaries and personal bank deposits are stolen by powerful, well-known figures who control the cash flow, taking a 20% cut for themselves.
The economic crisis deepens, with no solutions for the broken currency system or Gaza’s battered transportation sector. Public transit remains unsafe, yet fares have not changed—another burden on a population that can barely afford to live.
The black market thrives, preying on desperation. Cooking gas sells for 10 times its usual price, diesel and gasoline are unaffordable, and frozen meat, often in dangerously unhealthy conditions, is priced beyond reach. Housing is obscenely expensive, despite the lack of water and electricity. The streets are not streets anymore but mountains of rubble, with trash piling up in every corner.
Municipal workers can do nothing to clean up the devastation because there is no equipment—no trucks, no tractors, no resources. The concept of rebuilding is a fantasy. Schools, kindergartens, universities—education itself—remain in limbo, and government institutions are completely paralyzed. Daily life is suffocated by frustration, with no hope on the horizon.
For many, escape has become the only dream. Some have already left Gaza. Many more want to, but they are trapped.
Gazans heavily dismiss Trump’s evacuation plan
Even when US President Donald Trump made a statement suggesting a way out, it was dismissed—perhaps because it came from him, or perhaps because people feared being labeled as traitors for even considering it.
I speak to people every day who are waiting for the border crossings to open so they can flee. Others, once desperate to leave, have given up and now say they would rather die in their homeland. But most are waiting, eyes fixed on Doha, hoping that the Witkoff negotiations in Qatar will decide Hamas’s future in Gaza. They wonder: Will Hamas continue to rule? Will this cycle of war and destruction ever end?
People here do not want more war. They want normal lives, without destruction, without endless suffering. But they cannot say this out loud. Because in Gaza, you do not have the right to demand a better future. You are simply watched, silenced, and left to endure.
Ahmed Abd al-Salam is a Palestinian journalist living in the Gaza Strip.
Jesus Christ is King
