Latest news with #Ghalia
Time Out Dubai
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out Dubai
Dubai Summer Surprises 2025 dates: What to expect this year
Dubai Summer Surprises, the annual programme of events, sales and concerts in the emirate, will return in June. Promising 66 days of fun, this year the event will run from Friday June 27 until Sunday August 31. This year's DSS will see sales anchored around three distinct shopping windows – Summer Holiday Offers, the Great Dubai Summer Sale and Back to School. These sales will bring plenty of new offers, exclusive promotions and big mall activations to the city. Summer Holiday offers will kick things off between Friday June 27 and Thursday July 17, the Great Dubai Summer Sale will be held between Friday July 18 and Sunday August 10 and the Back to School sale will be between Monday August 11 and Sunday August 31. In addition to these big sales periods, there will be plenty of big concerts coming to Dubai throughout the summer. The opening weekend will bring three nights of shows to the city between the Friday and Sunday, with the headliners yet to be announced. The Beat The Heat DXB concert series will be held over two weekends in July once again at Dubai World Trade Centre. Tickets are already on sale from Dhs78.75 and the opening night will feature rising stars in the Arabic music scene such as tul8te and Almas on Friday July 4. Sharmoofers, Aziz Maraka and Ghalia will perform on Saturday July 5. And the following weekend will see Soulja, Montiyago and Mo Ali take to the stage on Friday July 11, while Bader Alshuaibi, Abdulaziz Louis and Nasser Abbas will perform the following day. The summer concert series will also feature Jazziyat ft Banah on Friday June 27, Adnan Sami on Sunday June 29, Adonis on Thursday July 3 and Shreya Ghosal on Saturday July 19. Dubai Summer Surprises will also feature the Summer Restaurant Week, serving up dining deals between Friday July 4 and Saturday July 12. And shoppers will get even more chances to save with flash sales like the 12-hour sale and the daily surprises. More concerts, dining experiences and retail activations are expected to be announced in the next few weeks. Fri Jun 27 – Sun Aug 31. Across Dubai. Looking for things to do in Dubai? All the sports events in Dubai in 2025 to sign up for Make 2025 the year of your PBs 50 brilliant outdoor activities to try at least once in Dubai Let's take this outside The incredible Dubai hotels offering more than just a room Did someone say freebies?
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Gaza blockade: a Palestinian widow, her children and a cupboard that is almost bare
Every day, Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children count their remaining stocks of food. These are meagre: a kilo or so of beans, a bag of lentils, a little salt, some herbs, spices, and enough flour for half a dozen flatbreads cooked on a griddle over a fire of wood splinters, waste plastic and cardboard. In the two months since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, stopping food, medicine, fuel and anything else from entering the devastated territory, Ghalia's 'cupboard' has slowly diminished. There have been better days, when Ghalia has received a cash distribution from an NGO and has been able to buy fresh vegetables or fruit on the market, or been given a kilogram of flour by a relative or friend. But prices have risen steadily as the blockade has gone on and basic foodstuffs become scarcer. Sugar that once cost a dollar a kilo now costs 20 times that. A sack of old, poor-quality flour costs far more money than Ghalia can muster. The bakeries run by the World Food Programme shut down weeks ago, all out of flour or fuel. The kitchens that hand out nearly 1 million meals every day in Gaza have limited supplies left. The warehouses of the UN are empty. The family has not eaten meat or dairy products for months. 'We are trying as much as possible to stretch our food since the crossings closed … We now eat just one or two meals a day. I divide the bread among my children just to curb their hunger. I try to eat less so there's enough for them,' Ghalia said. Every day since the ceasefire definitively collapsed six weeks ago, the sound of airstrikes and shelling has been clearly audible in the small tented encampment in farmland near the devastated town of Beit Lahia where Ghalia and her family have pitched their tent. This terrifies her. In December 2023, her husband, Hamza, was killed in an Israeli drone strike along with an uncle and a cousin as they searched for food in the ruins of their former home. 'I didn't scream or fall apart when I found them. I thanked God that I was able to find and bury them. The hospital refused to receive or shroud them, saying they were already decomposing and there were no burial shrouds. So we wrapped them in blankets and buried them ourselves,' Ghalia, 32, remembered. 'My children cried every day, asking to see their father. The older two [now 10 and nine] wept constantly, wanting to see him again. I kept comforting them, saying we'll reunite with him in heaven.' Last week, Ghalia's sister was hit in the leg by a stray bullet while she was cooking beside the tent. Every day her eldest son, 10-year-old Hossam, heads out into the surrounding wasteland to search for firewood. There is no other fuel, with no cooking gas available and benzene supplies so low that two-thirds of Gaza's remaining battered fleet of ambulances have been immobilised and only a third of generators in the territory are working. 'If he is just a little late coming back, I panic. I cannot lose a son as well as my husband. But we have to cook somehow so I have to send him off. He is only 10 but like an adult now with all his duties and worries.' Her daughter Jinan, 9, has recurrent nightmares about explosions and scattered body parts. 'I miss my old life so much. I miss my father – his voice and his smell. He used to take us for kebabs at the weekend. Now, there's nothing to buy in the markets. Water we get from the nearby school or from water trucks that come to the camp. My older brother and I carry it to our tent,' she said. 'I miss school so much. My mother told me that when I grow up, I will become a teacher because I love learning, and I hope I succeed in that … All I fear now is losing one of my siblings. I have nightmares in which I see people being killed, and lots of blood.' About 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified across Gaza, including 1,600 cases of severe acute malnutrition, since the start of 2025, the UN said in a report last week. Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza, said the humanitarian system in the territory was collapsing. 'We just have a few days of supplies left. Each day is worse than the one before,' Shawa said. Israeli officials justify the blockade on Gaza with claims that Hamas routinely steals aid, distributing it to its fighters or selling it to raise vital funds. Aid officials in Gaza deny any widespread theft of aid in recent months, though say looting is on the increase since hostilities recommenced 'due to the desperate humanitarian situation'. The war in Gaza was triggered by a surprise attack launched by Hamas into Israel in October 2023, in which militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. Israeli officials say one aim of the blockade is to pressure Hamas to release the 59 hostages who remain in Gaza, more than half of whom are thought to be dead. According to the ministry of health in Gaza, between 22 and 30 April, 437 Palestinians were killed and 1,023 were injured. In all, 52,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war, including more than 2,300 since Israel renewed its offensive in mid-March after reneging on a promise to move to a second phase of the fragile ceasefire which came into force in January. 'We just want to live in safety. We want the fear to end, the war to stop, life to return to how it used to be. We want our homes back,' Ghalia said, then turned back to counting her dwindling supplies. On Friday, her flour will run out, leaving just the beans and the packet of lentils.
The Guardian
02-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘We want the fear to end': a Palestinian widow relives the trauma of loss and struggle for survival
Every day, Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children count their remaining stocks of food. These are meagre: a kilo or so of beans, a bag of lentils, a little salt, some herbs, spices, and enough flour for half a dozen flatbreads cooked on a griddle over a fire of wood splinters, waste plastic and cardboard. In the two months since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, stopping food, medicine, fuel and anything else from entering the devastated territory, Ghalia's 'cupboard' has slowly diminished. There have been better days, when Ghalia has received a cash distribution from an NGO and has been able to buy fresh vegetables or fruit on the market, or been given a kilogram of flour by a relative or friend. But prices have risen steadily as the blockade has gone on and basic foodstuffs become scarcer. Sugar that once cost a dollar a kilo now costs 20 times that. A sack of old, poor-quality flour costs far more money than Ghalia can muster. The bakeries run by the World Food Programme shut down weeks ago, all out of flour or fuel. The kitchens that hand out nearly 1 million meals every day in Gaza have limited supplies left. The warehouses of the UN are empty. The family has not eaten meat or dairy products for months. 'We are trying as much as possible to stretch our food since the crossings closed … We now eat just one or two meals a day. I divide the bread among my children just to curb their hunger. I try to eat less so there's enough for them,' Ghalia said. Every day since the ceasefire definitively collapsed six weeks ago, the sound of airstrikes and shelling has been clearly audible in the small tented encampment in farmland near the devastated town of Beit Lahia where Ghalia and her family have pitched their tent. This terrifies her. In December 2023, her husband, Hamza, was killed in an Israeli drone strike along with an uncle and a cousin as they searched for food in the ruins of their former home. 'I didn't scream or fall apart when I found them. I thanked God that I was able to find and bury them. The hospital refused to receive or shroud them, saying they were already decomposing and there were no burial shrouds. So we wrapped them in blankets and buried them ourselves,' Ghalia, 32, remembered. 'My children cried every day, asking to see their father. The older two [now 10 and nine] wept constantly, wanting to see him again. I kept comforting them, saying we'll reunite with him in heaven.' Last week, Ghalia's sister was hit in the leg by a stray bullet while she was cooking beside the tent. Every day her eldest son, 10-year-old Hossam, heads out into the surrounding wasteland to search for firewood. There is no other fuel, with no cooking gas available and benzene supplies so low that two-thirds of Gaza's remaining battered fleet of ambulances have been immobilised and only a third of generators in the territory are working. 'If he is just a little late coming back, I panic. I cannot lose a son as well as my husband. But we have to cook somehow so I have to send him off. He is only 10 but like an adult now with all his duties and worries.' Her daughter Jinan, 9, has recurrent nightmares about explosions and scattered body parts. 'I miss my old life so much. I miss my father – his voice and his smell. He used to take us for kebabs at the weekend. Now, there's nothing to buy in the markets. Water we get from the nearby school or from water trucks that come to the camp. My older brother and I carry it to our tent,' she said. 'I miss school so much. My mother told me that when I grow up, I will become a teacher because I love learning, and I hope I succeed in that … All I fear now is losing one of my siblings. I have nightmares in which I see people being killed, and lots of blood.' About 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified across Gaza, including 1,600 cases of severe acute malnutrition, since the start of 2025, the UN said in a report last week. Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza, said the humanitarian system in the territory was collapsing. 'We just have a few days of supplies left. Each day is worse than the one before,' Shawa said. Israeli officials justify the blockade on Gaza with claims that Hamas routinely steals aid, distributing it to its fighters or selling it to raise vital funds. Aid officials in Gaza deny any widespread theft of aid in recent months, though say looting is on the increase since hostilities recommenced 'due to the desperate humanitarian situation'. The war in Gaza was triggered by a surprise attack launched by Hamas into Israel in October 2023, in which militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. Israeli officials say one aim of the blockade is to pressure Hamas to release the 59 hostages who remain in Gaza, more than half of whom are thought to be dead. According to the ministry of health in Gaza, between 22 and 30 April, 437 Palestinians were killed and 1,023 were injured. In all, 52,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war, including more than 2,300 since Israel renewed its offensive in mid-March after reneging on a promise to move to a second phase of the fragile ceasefire which came into force in January. 'We just want to live in safety. We want the fear to end, the war to stop, life to return to how it used to be. We want our homes back,' Ghalia said, then turned back to counting her dwindling supplies. On Friday, her flour will run out, leaving just the beans and the packet of lentils.
Al Jazeera
14-04-2025
- General
- Al Jazeera
‘Forgive me, Mama': A Gaza mother's agony for a son Israel killed
Mawasi Khan Younis, Gaza – Her son's final words haunt Ghalia Radwan. 'Forgive me, mama,' the 24-year-old said as he lay dying, shot by Israeli soldiers while he was on a rescue mission on March 23, which he recorded until his last breath. He wanted her forgiveness for the pain his death would cause, knowing that she had worried about him every day since he had become a paramedic. 'I forgive you, son,' Ghalia has whispered tearfully countless times since then, knowing that Rifaat had wanted his conscience clear before he died in southern Gaza with 14 other emergency workers. She hopes he knows she would always forgive him. On the morning of March 22, Ghalia woke up later than usual and rushed to see Rifaat before he left for work. But he had already left, and her heart filled with dread. 'I had kept looking over at him the night before as he was sleeping for some reason,' she says. The night of March 21 was unremarkable. Rifaat came home in time to break his Ramadan fast with his family in the displacement tent they live in. After the simple iftar meal, he talked with his parents a bit and then went to sleep. 'Even though I miss him terribly and always look forward to him getting home so we could chat, we always made sure not to tire him with talk or staying up late,' Rifaat's father, 52-year-old Anwar Radwan, says. Ghalia agrees: 'I just would wash his clothes and prepare his sleeping spot, so he could go to work rested.' She's not sure but believes Rifaat woke up around dawn for suhoor, the daily meal before fasting begins during Ramadan, and was picked up by 6am by his colleagues to go to work. He didn't come home after that shift, spending the night at the first responders centre instead. On March 23, the family was told Rifaat was one of 15 Palestine Red Crescent Society and Civil Defence rescue workers who were missing and feared ambushed by Israeli soldiers. That news launched the family into eight days of tormented waiting, praying and hoping that Rifaat would be found alive. 'I would pace back and forth, crying, praying and pleading with God, while constantly calling the Red Crescent,' Ghalia says of the wait while Palestinian authorities tried to get Israel to agree to a search operation. 'Each time they told us Israeli coordination had been denied, I would faint from the sheer pain.' On the morning of Eid al-Fitr, the family got a call from the Red Crescent that Israeli permission had finally been granted for search teams to enter the area. 'I wouldn't wish those agonising hours of waiting on any mother in the world,' Ghalia says. There is no internet coverage in the family's tent, so Anwar would have to go to an internet point in the camp to check for updates. He came back to the tent at one point and said the Red Crescent had found two bodies, then rushed out again, leaving Ghalia praying desperately that Rifaat was not among them The next time Anwar came back, he said four bodies had been recovered and rushed off again. On his third trip back, he said they had recovered six bodies, including Rifaat's. 'I felt like a dagger pierced my heart, but I resigned myself to God's will, and we went to the hospital.' At the hospital, the families of the other paramedics were waiting for their loved ones' bodies to arrive. 'We all rushed towards the ambulances, crying. Emergency workers were weeping bitterly as they bid farewell to their colleagues.' As excruciating as the wait for news was, it was nothing compared with watching the video Rifaat had recorded of his last moments, which was found after his body was. Over about 20 minutes, Rifaat can be heard speaking about the mission they were on. An ambulance that had gone to the Tal as-Sultan area of southern Gaza to rescue survivors of an Israeli bombing had disappeared about 4am on March 23. Another ambulance that went out to find it radioed back to base to say the missing colleagues seemed to have been shot, and two more ambulances were sent out to help them. Rifaat was in one. His video clearly shows the worry in the ambulance and the fact that all the emergency vehicles – including a Civil Defence firetruck – were clearly marked and had their lights on, not off as Israel initially claimed as it tried to justify killing 15 emergency workers and burying them and their vehicles. In the video, Ghalia was able to hear as her son spotted the bodies of his colleagues and see everyone in the ambulance rush out to help them as they were wearing clearly identifiable uniforms. Then came the sound of gunfire, and Rifaat fell to the ground as the visuals were obscured and only his voice remained as he repeated the shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, and begged his mother to forgive him. 'Forgive me, mama,' he said. 'I wanted to help people. Forgive me.' Both declarations are tied to Rifaat's faith. The shahada is the most important declaration and prayer recited by Muslims. They also say it on their deathbeds to reaffirm their faith. Muslims believe that the path to heaven is through their parents and through having lived a good life and not harming anyone, and Rifaat wanted to die knowing that his mother would forgive him in death. 'Rifaat knew how deeply attached I was to him and how I constantly worried about him, so his last words were asking for my forgiveness because he knew losing him would break my heart,' Ghalia tells Al Jazeera, her eyes brimming with tears. 'My son was beautiful and charming. I adored him. He was handsome, generous and giving without limits,' Ghalia says. Anwar remembers a child who always ran after ambulances, firetrucks, bulldozers, anything with flashing emergency lights and a siren. '[Rifaat] loved emergency work, and when he finished high school, he chose that path.' Ghalia worried when Rifaat chose emergency medical services, joining the Palestine Red Crescent Society in October 2023 when Israel's war on Gaza began but relented when Rifaat showed how determined he was. 'He said the same thing to me then that he said in his final moments: 'Mama, I want to help people.'' Throughout Israel's war, Ghalia constantly feared for Rifaat's safety, warning him and begging him to stay safe. Whenever he came home after a difficult day, Rifaat would tell his mother what he had seen as he tried to rescue people. 'I would wash his blood-soaked uniform while he apologised and told me how he retrieved the remains of children, women and men from beneath the rubble,' she said. 'He was often devastated, but he never gave up.' Rifaat had dreamed of continuing his studies abroad, to learn more about emergency response and return to Gaza to bring his education home to give back to people, Ghalia says. '[He was also] our sole breadwinner due to his father's illness until he completely exhausted his bank account one day. 'I broke down crying, but he reassured me and said it was fine, that I shouldn't be sad about the money.' There's pride in Ghalia when she talks about her son, taking comfort in the fact that he sacrificed himself to serve and help others. 'My son Rifaat's message will live on, and I will raise my younger sons to follow in his footsteps and become paramedics,' Ghalia says, referring to her sons Abdul Jawwad, 13, and Suleiman, 11. 'Rifaat left us a noble message and an everlasting impact,' she adds. 'I always think of him whenever I see the flowers and plants he planted around our tent.'
Al Bawaba
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Bawaba
Is there season 2 of 'Bi Al Dam' series in Ramadan 2026?
ALBAWABA - Since the great reactions that the Ramadan 2025 'Bi Al Dam' series has caused after the release of its final episode, people are asking if there's a second season of the breathtaking series. Also Read Ramadan 2025 'Bi Al Dam' series sparks anger, was the idea stolen? Ramadan 2025 'Bi Al Dam' series starred many Lebanese great stars including Maguy Bou Ghosn, Bassem Moughnieh, Badih Abou Chakra, Jessy Abdo, Wissam Fares, Carole Abboud, and Saeed Sarhan. The series revolves around Ghalia, who after 45 years, discovers a dangerous secret about her family and birth, which pushes her to search for the mysterious truth about her true identity when she discovers a gang of child smuggling. What happens in the final episode of 'Bi Al Dam' series? Ghalia, the main character of the Ramadan series gets shot at the hands of the gang leader, before she dies, Galia asks her husband to agree to her donating one of her kidneys to her biological sister "Hanen" (played by Marilyne Naaman ), who suffer kidney failure. The gang members "Asia" (played by Carol Abboud) and "Nazera" (played by Janah Fakhoury) were jailed after being caught by the police. Asia kills Nazera and then commits suicide in prison. Ghalia dies after suffering a gun injury and Hanen gets her kidney and becomes better then she weds her fiance "Adam" (played by Said Serhan). Hanen's brother "Marwan" (played by Wessam Faris) also gets married to "Layan" (played by Rola Beksmati), the woman who was married to "Walid" (played by Bassem Moughnieh), but she wasn't able to have kids. Man, who was switched with Ghalia at birth shows up at the Lebanon airport and comes to look for his biological parents. After the broadcast of the final episode, many fans asked writer Nadine Jaber to continue the story in a new season, however, no official source revealed any details regarding a new season in Ramadan 2026. Was the idea behind 'Bi Al Dam' series stolen? Eagle Films issued an official statement denying these allegations, stressing that the work is not based on a personal story, but rather a social drama that addresses a public issue. In its statement, the company explained that its lawyer personally contacted Ms Greta Al-Zaghbi and presented her with the script for the series, allowing her to confirm that it had no connection to her personal life. The statement emphasized that the work was not inspired by any specific story, but rather revolves around the issue of identity and belonging.
