A quick greeting tonight from Gaza.
Simple walk along the beach and the harbor as the light faded. Families out in force, gathered around small picnic tables; kids grinning and dripping out of the water in the small stretch of Gaza City beach that is not so badly polluted. A few miles to the north and south, raw sewage pours into the ocean, because there's no electricity to run the sewage plant. We went by Gaza's power plant today - very quiet. The guard at the entry station told us they haven't had power for three days, because the fuel hasn't arrived from Egypt.
Meanwhile, fuel and food shipments have been blocked at the Kerem Shalom crossing, which Israel closed in collective punishment for the incendiary balloons. (Reports are it will be open again this week.)
In the meantime, the wish for some sort of normal life seems to be on everyone's lips. This on the same night that Israeli strikes in other parts of the Gaza Strip would kill three Palestinians.
And yet, as in Beirut in the 1980s and Sarajevo in the 90s, Palestinians in Gaza tonight were out on their beaches, in their parks, on their fishing boats, their heads above water.
Photos by Abdel Kareem Hana
