Nearly one million of Gaza’s 1.1 million olive trees have been destroyed—bulldozed by Israeli forces, left to die from thirst, or trapped behind military lines. In his new report for Drop Site, Gaza journalist Mohamed Suleiman reports from Al-Mawasi and Khan Younis, where farmers are enduring their third lost harvest and an olive oil industry on the brink of extinction. What was once a source of income and identity for more than 10,000 families has been gutted: presses shattered, irrigation gone, and surviving trees cut for firewood. “These trees are life itself,” one farmer said. “When it dies, it feels like another disaster.” Agricultural experts say the devastation is systematic, designed to erase Gaza’s ability to feed itself. Rebuilding will take years—if the ceasefire lasts long enough for new trees to take root. Read Mohamed Suleiman’s full report: 👉 “We Estimate That Nearly One Million of Gaza’s 1.1 Million Olive Trees Have Been Destroyed” 📸 The Abu Zidan olive press in central Gaza by Mohamed Suleiman

bird.makeup - Tweet

💥New from Drop Site: “We Estimate That Nearly One Million of Gaza’s 1.1 Million Olive Trees Have Been Destroyed”
&...

View quoted note →

💥New from Drop Site: “We Estimate That Nearly One Million of Gaza’s 1.1 Million Olive Trees Have Been Destroyed” Gaza journalist Mohamed Suleiman reports farmers are missing their third olive harvest as Israel’s war devastates the industry.

“We Estimate That Nearly One Million of Gaza’s 1.1 Million Olive Trees Have Been Destroyed”

Gaza’s olive groves have been bulldozed by the Israeli military, dried up from lack of water, or remain inaccessible, leaving Palestinian farmers...

🔶 The “Mukhtar of Mukhtars” Gaza tribal elder Husni Salman Hussein al-Mughni has been in the headlines for defending the government’s recent crackdown on Israeli-backed militias, describing it as vital to restoring order amid siege and war. Palestine Chronicle profiles the longtime Fatah member and former brigadier general, who joined Fatah in 1968, was active in its institutional and national work, and later served in the Palestinian Authority’s Political Guidance Department after Oslo, retiring in 2005. He has since condemned the accords as a betrayal that fragmented Fatah and entrenched occupation. In 2018, al-Mughni founded the Tribal Gathering for National Unity. During the genocide, he has continued to the resistance and rejected Israeli and regional efforts to elevate clans as an alternative authority. His recent comments, translated by Drop Site, are in the posts below. Read more about his background in the piece by @The Palestine Chronicle ⬇️

bird.makeup - Tweet

The Mukhtar, or as some like to call him, “the Mukhtar of the Mukhtars,” is the head of the Higher Commission for Palestinian Tribes,...

View quoted note →

Gershon Baskin, Middle East peace negotiator, to CNN: “I know Marwan [Barghouti] very well. I know him from 1996… I conducted a correspondence between Marwan and one of the former heads of the Israeli Shin Bet. They managed to exchange letters five times before the war began.” He said Marwan’s final letter outlined “a two-state solution with a regional economic and security framework — an envelope to provide both Israel and Palestine with the security needs they both have.” Baskin added that he recently wrote to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff — with whom he said in a separate interview he interacts every day — detailing Marwan’s background and political relevance. He said a majority of senior Israeli officials he consulted, including “former military people, generals, prime ministers, Shin Bet and Mossad heads,” agreed that “Marwan needs to be released.” @npub1mjxd...kzud | @npub16tzz...whlr

Footage shared with Drop Site shows refrigerated trucks and ICRC vehicles waiting at the Kissufim crossing to transport what are believed to be the bodies of dozens of Palestinians to Gaza. The current deal states that Israel will return 15 bodies of Palestinians for each deceased Israeli captive. Estimates of the number of bodies of deceased Palestinians that Israel is currently holding range from 600-720+.

In his exposé on Bari Weiss’s appointment as CBS News editor-in-chief, John Oliver singled out The Free Press’s Gaza famine report as a prime example of sloppy, agenda-driven journalism. Weiss’s outlet called the famine a myth and claimed the children had preexisting illnesses. ➤ Journalist Maha Hussaini, reporting from Gaza, and Ryan Grim investigated those same cases for Drop Site News—tracking down families and medical records. Their reporting shows it was starvation, not illness, that emaciated the children Weiss’s site used to deny famine. 🔗 Drop Site’s full report: “The Free Press Called Out “Incomplete” Reporting on Gaza’s Starving Children. Here’s the Complete Story” is linked below. @npub1puer...phtn | @Ryan Grim | @npub14xw9...xw86

In prison, Israeli guards told him again and again that Israeli soldiers had killed his entire family – a form of psychological torture, he said, meant to break him. But when he walked up the stairs of his Gaza home today, his wife rushed into his arms, his children and parents