Gaza's Winter of Desperation: Scavenging Trash for Warmth
In the battered Gaza Strip, desperate Palestinians are digging through garbage dumps with their bare hands, searching for plastic items to burn as their only source of warmth during the cold, damp winter months. This stark reality presents a jarring contrast to the optimistic visions of Gaza's future being projected by world leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
A Chilling Daily Reality
At a garbage dump in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, residents face the daily struggle of surviving plummeting temperatures that drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) at night. Despite being months into a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that began in October, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain displaced, sheltering in tents and war-damaged buildings that offer little protection from the elements.
Sanaa Salah, who lives in a tent with her husband and six children, describes the critical importance of starting a fire each day for cooking and warmth. "Life is very hard," she said as family members threw plastic and paper into their fire. "We cannot even have a cup of tea. We do not sleep at night from the cold."
The Dangerous Search for Fuel
While humanitarian aid into Gaza has increased since the ceasefire, residents report severe shortages of fuel and firewood, with prices becoming exorbitantly high. The search for combustible materials has turned deadly, with two 13-year-old boys shot and killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday as they attempted to collect firewood, according to hospital officials.
Aziz Akel explains the economic reality facing his family: "Firewood is just too expensive. My family has no income and we can't pay the 7 or 8 shekels (about $2.5) it would cost. My house is gone and my kids were wounded." His daughter, Lina Akel, describes how her father leaves their tent early each morning to search for plastic in garbage - what she calls "the basics of life."
Davos Optimism Meets Gaza Reality
Meanwhile, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that "record levels" of humanitarian aid had entered Gaza since the ceasefire began. His administration inaugurated a Board of Peace to oversee Gaza's future, with son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff enthusiastically promoting the territory's development potential.
This optimistic projection stands in stark contrast to the situation on the ground, where residents are aware of the health dangers of burning plastic but have no alternative for survival. "We are aware of the dangers of burning plastic but have no other choice," Sanaa Salah explained.
Continued Violence and Journalist Deaths
The ceasefire has not brought complete safety to Gaza. On Thursday, Israeli tank shelling east of Gaza City killed four Palestinians, according to Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Shifa Hospital where the bodies were taken. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.
Journalists continue to face extreme danger while documenting the situation. Dozens of Palestinians gathered at Nasser hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday to mourn three Palestinian journalists killed the previous day when an Israeli strike hit their vehicle. One of the journalists, Abdul Raouf Shaat, was a regular contributor to Agence France-Presse, though not on assignment for the agency at the time of his death.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 200 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began in 2023. Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza to cover the war, leaving news organizations to rely largely on Palestinian journalists and residents to document events.
Mounting Casualty Figures
Gaza's health ministry, which maintains detailed casualty records considered generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts, reports that more than 470 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began in October. At least 77 have been killed by Israeli gunfire near a ceasefire line that divides the territory between Israeli-held areas and most of Gaza's Palestinian population.
As mourners wept over the bodies of the dead journalists on Thursday, their bodies covered in body bags with press vests placed on their chests, the contrast between diplomatic optimism and ground-level suffering could not have been more pronounced. The winter cold continues to bite in displacement camps across Gaza, where survival increasingly means digging through garbage for anything that might burn.
