For many years, locals in the war-torn impoverished coastal enclave have been deprived of Ramadan preparations due to Israeli wars, but this year Gazans are making the most of the start of the holy month with colourful decorations and market visits.
In 2005, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon evacuated several Israeli settlements in Gaza along with four settlements in the northern occupied West Bank as part of his "unilateral" plan for disengagement.
The left-wing factions stressed that Hamas' policies were now threatening the food security of the Palestinian people in Gaza, home to more than 2.3 million.
"The initiative aims at entertaining the amputees and enhancing their physical and psychological strength," Mohammed Abu Mosaed, the initiative's creator and coach, said to The New Arab.
"Including five players, the team is going to play in an Arabian competition to be held in Morocco next May," the Palestine Football Association for Amputees organisation said in a press statement sent to The New Arab.
The report, which sent a copy to The New Arab, added that "since 2008, about 90,017 housing units were partially or completely damaged by the Israeli strikes are still not rebuilding."
Hamas, an Islamist armed group running Gaza, said that “it is the real-time to give the resistance in the West Bank and Jerusalem space and opportunity to lead the confrontation with the Israeli occupation."
Over 100 families with members in the Gaza Strip and West Bank have been torn apart by Israeli bans on entry, with some children never meeting their parents.
Khalid al-Batsh, a senior leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said that “the situation in the West Bank is similar to the situation before [Israel's] withdrawal from Gaza.”
The Islamic Hamas movement that controls the besieged coastal enclave said on Thursday that the Israeli occupation is pushing towards war in the Palestinian territories by continuing to commit massacres against the Palestinians.
