Gaza has long been described as an “open-air prison.” The more I reflect on the term, the more it feels like a painful truth rather than mere hollow rhetoric. A suffocating blockade has been imposed for decades, with two border crossings sealed shut depending on the political climate and circumstances, often leaving no feasible exit for patients seeking medical referrals or students hoping to…
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On January 1, the Israeli occupation revoked the licenses of 37 international and local humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza, and it has now warned they must “must complete the cessation of their activities by March 1, 2026.” These organizations provide essential services to civilians: delivering food aid to the poor, supplying clean drinking water, supporting hospitals with medicines and…
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With only five Palestinians in need of medical evacuation from Gaza permitted to leave through the Rafah crossing after it reopened on Monday, health authorities in the exclave warned that the restrictions Israel is continuing to impose at the crossing could ultimately kill thousands of Palestinians who have been waiting for years for treatment as Israeli attacks have decimated Gaza’s health…
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Lydia Romero strained to hear her husband’s feeble voice through the phone. A week earlier, immigration agents had grabbed Julio César Peña from his front yard in Glendale, California. Now, he was in a hospital after suffering a ministroke. He was shackled to the bed by his hand and foot, he told Romero, and agents were in the room, listening to the call. He was scared he would die and wanted…
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Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz began telling his family that he wasn’t feeling well a few days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transferred him to a California facility, his daughter recalled. Originally from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, he is one of six people who died in ICE custody in the first two weeks of 2026. Last year, 32 people died in ICE custody, the most in a single year…
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Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal are on a 103-mile, 12-day march ending Tuesday in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where he is imprisoned at the Mahanoy state prison. The march ends on the same day Abu-Jamal was arrested in 1981 for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, for which he has always maintained his innocence. One of the best-known political prisoners in the world…
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