Palestinians in Gaza scavenge trash for things to burn to cook meals, in photos

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza make the difficult choice every day between digging into garbage dumps for combustible materials to help cook their meals or crowding around the territory's scarce charity kitchens.

The Kahlout family has tasked their 12-year-old son, Omar, with walking daily to a nearby dump to collect plastic and other material they can use as fuel. He digs with his bare hands and fills a worn-out sack, then carries it back to the tent where he lives with his family of eight.

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A Palestinian boy leaves a garbage dump after collecting combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian woman feeds a child a meal cooked using combustible materials collected from a garbage dump amid a shortage of cooking gas at a tent in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian boy leaves a garbage dump after collecting combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians use combustible materials collected from a garbage dump as fuel for cooking amid a shortage of cooking gas in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians use combustible materials collected from a garbage dump as fuel for cooking amid a shortage of cooking gas in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian woman feeds a child a meal cooked using combustible materials collected from a garbage dump amid a shortage of cooking gas in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

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A Palestinian boy leaves a garbage dump after collecting combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian woman feeds a child a meal cooked using combustible materials collected from a garbage dump amid a shortage of cooking gas at a tent in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian boy leaves a garbage dump after collecting combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians use combustible materials collected from a garbage dump as fuel for cooking amid a shortage of cooking gas in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians use combustible materials collected from a garbage dump as fuel for cooking amid a shortage of cooking gas in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian woman feeds a child a meal cooked using combustible materials collected from a garbage dump amid a shortage of cooking gas in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians search through a garbage dump for combustible materials to use as fuel for cooking due to a shortage of cooking gas, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

They live close to the dump. Rats swarm their tent. This is life for many of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians who still languish in displacement camps and war-ravaged buildings, 10 months after a fragile ceasefire was reached between Israel and the Hamas militant group.

Families expressed doubt on the progress of talks that aim to end the war. “The truce is only in the media,” said Omar’s father, Adam. He said the family survives on food from humanitarian aid packages and charity kitchens.

And yet Palestinians say the food at the kitchens is not enough. Each family is allowed one piece of fish with rice. May people leave with their pots empty, even as Israel’s government has said it is allowing enough food into the territory that remains largely cut off from the world.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

LONDON (AP) — Seven people, including two police officers, were killed early Saturday in a head-on collision in northeast England following a pursuit.

Cleveland Police said that a Volkswagen Passat carrying five people was traveling the wrong way down the A66 highway near Middlesbrough and collided with a police vehicle on the same road going in the right direction.

The seven people were pronounced dead at the scene after the crash at 3:39 a.m.

The two officers were identified as Matthew Blades and Tom Clough, Cleveland Police Chief Constable Victoria Fuller said.

Police were still working to formally identify other victims. The families of those already identified have been informed and were offered specialist support, police said.

Cleveland Police were investigating the crash, alongside the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is always involved when such incidents take place.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that he was “devastated” to hear about the loss of life and urged “people to avoid speculation at this time.”

Palestinians in Gaza scavenge trash for things to burn to cook meals, in photos

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