Palestinians are voting in local municipal elections on Saturday in the occupied West Bank and parts of Gaza. This marks the first vote since the start of the Israel-Hamas war and the first local elections in Gaza in two decades.
Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the West Bank, while 70,000 are registered in Gaza's Deir el-Balah area. Residents in Deir al-Balah have described the vote as a long-awaited opportunity to address the city's problems.
There are no Hamas candidates on the electoral lists, and Hamas has stated it is not participating in the Deir al-Balah elections. The lists are primarily composed of independents or candidates aligned with President Mahmud Abbas's secular-nationalist Fatah party.
The elections will gauge the political mood at a time when Israel's government is seeking to destroy any future for a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, voter apathy in the West Bank is being fueled by frustration with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli occupation.