Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Markets in Gaza began restocking livestock at significantly higher prices, for the first time since the war began six months ago, as aid and goods flow at a faster rate through the Rafah border crossing.
Tahani Abu Odeh, 35, was finally able to make her family 'fatteh', a Palestinian dish made up of rice and chicken.
“For the first time in months, we feel that there is life in the northern Gaza Strip. We are finally finding things in the market like vegetables, fruits, frozen meat and legumes.”
Like thousands others, Ms Abu Odeh has been surviving on canned foods for the most part in the past few months.
“It's true that prices are still high and not everyone can afford to buy from the market, but having these goods available is better than their absence and scarcity,” she told The National.
On Sunday, a doctor from the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) who had visited Gaza as part of a delegation sent by the World Health Organisation described acute malnutrition in northern Gaza, largely affecting children.
Dr Samer Attar said he was “surrounded” by hunger during his visit. The UN and other NGOs had been warning that malnutrition had doubled in just a single month in the besieged, war-torn enclave, as aid lorries were being turned back, and humanitarian assistance was coming in at a fraction of the rate it was before the war began, despite the exacerbated humanitarian crisis.
Ms Abu Odeh is originally from Beit Hanoun in Gaza's north but was displaced to Jabalia refugee camp with her husband and four children after her family home was destroyed by Israeli shelling.
She says her children had all lost weight due to the lack of food.
“For two months I couldn't feed them anything good … We've overcome a lot of pain and hunger in the past weeks.”
Fruits and vegetables trader Mahdi Ayyad said markets have started to thrive after the entry of goods through the southern Rafah border crossing that are now making their way to the north, where they are most needed.
“Traders in the north of the Gaza Strip have managed to bring fruits such as apples, bananas, and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as cheese and frozen chicken and meat,” Mr Ayyad told The National.
He said the prices remained high but were slightly lower than they were when the war first began. A kilogram of meat now costs 60 ILS ($16), whereas before the war, fresh meat used to cost around 45 ILS ($12), he said.
Gazans are able to get some foods they have been completely absent from the markets since the war began.
“The sight of the market is now pleasing. We are starting to see bananas, apples, oranges, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, chicken, and many other things,” 45 year-old Hani Al Zarad told The National.
The father of three lives in Al Duraj neighbourhood, east of Gaza city. He is one of the few who were able to stay in his neighbourhood and not flee to the south.
The availability of these rare commodities in Gaza has brought him a sense of optimism.
“I was one of those people who had lost hope that I would ever be able to eat these things again after being deprived of them. But thank God, he has relieved us,” he said.
Affordability, however, has remained an issue for Mr Al Zarad in the absence of cash money – as many people have no access to their funds through banks and ATMs while the financial infrastructure remains largely impacted by the war.
An employee in Ramallah, Mr Al Zarad had not received his salary for months.
“I am unable to withdraw money from the bank due to the lack of cash and funds in Gaza. I hope that the coming days will be filled with goodness, and the prices will return to normal,” he said.
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
LIGUE 1 FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Nice v Angers (9pm)
Lille v Monaco (10.45pm)
Saturday
Montpellier v Paris Saint-Germain (7pm)
Bordeaux v Guingamp (10pm)
Caen v Amiens (10pm)
Lyon v Dijon (10pm)
Metz v Troyes (10pm)
Sunday
Saint-Etienne v Rennes (5pm)
Strasbourg v Nantes (7pm)
Marseille v Toulouse (11pm)
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 363hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh184,500
UFC%20FIGHT%20NIGHT%3A%20SAUDI%20ARABIA%20RESULTS
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'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
