Rafah, Gaza

A woman without a travel permit walks through an underground tunnel between Gaza and Egypt on her way to a party, holding a bouquet of flowers. In the latter half of the year, the new Egyptian military government began closing these secret tunnels, which for many Gaza residents were a main passage in and out of the enclave.

More than four million people live in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, often in overcrowded or deprived conditions. People’s movements are circumscribed and the threat of violence never quite goes away. Yet although the challenges of conflict and occupation overhang everyday life, people are not solely focused on the difficulties of survival.