(New York Times) Patrick Kingsley - Wasfi al-Garosha, 29, an unemployed plasterer, has lost count of how many times he has been jailed in Gaza City because he is unable to repay a loan he took in 2019 to pay for his wedding. In the first nine months of 2021, the Gaza City police issued 448 arrest warrants for indebted bridegrooms. On his way to a three-week jail term, he passed a monument commemorating a Hamas attack on Israeli soldiers - a giant fist punching its way through an Israeli armored vehicle - and then passed under a huge banner honoring Hamas. He respected Hamas' military campaigns against Israel, he said, but in his view, the group funnels money, jobs and social support to its members, leaving people like him to fend for themselves.
2021-11-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive