July 18, 2014

This Is What Gaza Looks Like Right Now

Devastating photos from the escalating conflict.


After ten days of airstrikes, Israel launched a ground incursion into Gaza Thursday, its first since 2009, when a three-week battle with Hamas left 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. Over the past ten days, Israeli shelling in Gaza has claimed the lives of 200 Palestinians; one Israeli was killed by shrapnel. Israel has activated 50,000 reserve troops and has said it plans to call up 18,000 more in what observers say could be a dangerous escalation of the conflict.

An Israeli soldier directs a Merkava tank near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. Gili Yaari/NurPhoto/ZUMA
 

 

Mourners carried the body of 8-year-old Fulla Tariq Shuhaiber, who according to her family was killed by a missile strike as she fed pigeons on her roof. Sameh Rahmi/NurPhoto/ZUMA
 

An Israeli man held debris from a Quassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. Omer Messinger/zReportage/ZUMA
 

Israelis stood on a hilltop watching activity in Gaza. Omer Messinger/zReportage/ZUMA
 

 Israeli demonstrators held signs protesting the military action Thursday. Sebastian Scheiner/AP
 

Palestinian police held back demonstrators near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Shadi Hatem/APA Images/ZUMA
 

A family that fled their home in the town of Beit Lahiya sought refuge at a United Nations-run school in Gaza City. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/zReportage/ZUMA
 

Relatives mourned four Palestinian children killed by an Israeli airstrike while playing on a Gaza beach. Ibrahim Khader/Pacific Press/ZUMA
 

Palestinians held a funeral for family members of Tayseer Al-Batsh, Gaza’s police chief, whose house was struck by an Israeli missile that killed 18, according to Hamas. Ashraf Amra/APA Images/zReportage/ZUMA
 

Israeli mourners carried the body of Dror Chanin, 37, who was killed by a mortar while  delivering food to soldiers near the Gaza border. Dan Balilty/AP

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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