fancy

Social media is full of posts showing off photos and videos of fancy-looking cafes and restaurants in Gaza. Pro-Israeli accounts often use these images to claim that life is back to normal in Gaza, that people are not suffering and that no genocide ever took place.

These cafes and restaurants do exist. I have seen them myself.

In late March, I went on my first visit to Gaza City since the war started. I was shocked to see the destruction wrought on the city. There were piles of rubble at every corner. Unable to recognise the streets, I felt as if I were strolling through a maze. I soon arrived at an area nearby that shocked me even more. It was full of new cafes that did not exist before the war.

These were not makeshift or temporary places as one might expect; they were built with expensive materials, carefully painted, furnished with tables, sofas, and elegant chairs, with glass facades and shining lights. A luxury feel emanated from them. They looked so out of place amid the rubble and the half-collapsed buildings that it felt almost surreal to see them.

These new establishments do not prove that normality is coming back to Gaza. They are a testament to its continuing genocidal abnormality.

The war made some people in Gaza rich, especially those who engaged in illicit activities like smuggling, looting, and hoarding during acute shortages. This wealth is now coming out in various forms, including luxury cafes and restaurants.

In parallel, the vast majority of Gaza’s population has been thrown into abject poverty. While before the war, the average person was able to afford to sit at a cafe and have a drink and a bite to eat, today this is no longer the case.

Most people cannot even look at these new places, let alone enter them and order something. The vast majority of Gaza’s population lives in tents, has no electricity or potable water, and suffers from the loss of livelihoods. They are surviving on what little aid Israel is allowing through.

I am one of them. My family and I live in a tent pitched near the rubble of our home in the Nuseirat camp. We have lost our family livelihood. The comfortable life we used to have is now just a distant memory.

The expensive new establishments reflect the deeply unjust social order that has emerged in Gaza – one where war profiteering has elevated a new privileged class and collapsed the vast majority into misery with no access to proper education, healthcare and even food. The genocide did not just kill and maim people and destroy homes and schools; it eliminated the prospect of a normal life for most people in Gaza.

I could not afford the fancy cafes, so I continued down the street till I reached a more modest restaurant, which used to go to with friends before the war. Entering it felt like stepping back in time to the days before the war; the place was the same, with the same chairs and tables, and the familiar smells that filled the space.

I sat and observed, dwelling on fond memories of spending time there after university lectures. I ordered what I used to order: a chicken wrap, a soda and a small salad plate. The bill was 60 shekels ($20) – more than three times what I would pay before the war, when my family actually had a normal income.

The restaurant bill, together with the fare I paid for a shared ride to get to Gaza City (15 shekels or $5 one way), cost me a fortune. I felt guilty spending all this money to enjoy a glimpse of normalcy.

The few who are fortunate enough to be able to afford going to cafes and restaurants in Gaza may enjoy short moments of relief, a temporary escape from the horrors of reality. Yet these moments are limited, often accompanied by anxiety about returning to the destroyed streets, the bombed-out landscape and the trauma.

As I sat at Al-Taboon, I thought of the friends with whom I used to spend time: Rama, who was martyred and Ranan, who escaped to Belgium. I sat there alone, holding on to these memories amid the greyness of Gaza’s rubble and the lights of the generator-powered cafés.

The genocide has devasted everyone – even those who have profiteered from it. No amount of time spent in shiny cafes and restaurants will ever erase this reality.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

April 8 (UPI) — A Russian hacking group financed by the spy agency GRU managed a large-scale campaign to steal information about militaries and governments by hacking into Wi-Fi routers, the FBI said.

The group known as Fancy Bear is behind the hack done to governments around the world. Intelligence and police services in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Romania and others discovered the operation, which attacked poorly protected Wi-Fi routers, they announced in a joint statement Tuesday.

The hackers took “passwords, authentication tokens and other sensitive information, including emails” Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, said in a statement.

“This way, they acted as ‘intermediaries’ in the online space to collect passwords, authentication tokens and other sensitive information, including emails, which under normal circumstances are protected by SSL [Secure Sockets Layer] and TLS [Transport Layer Security] cryptographic protocols,” SBU said.

The GRU operatives, who have been using this technique since at least 2024, planned to use the information to “carry out cyberattacks, information sabotage and the collection of intelligence,” SBU said.

The FBI said the GRU has “indiscriminately compromised a wide pool of U.S. and global victims and then filtered down impacted users, especially targeting information related to military, government and critical infrastructure.”

Romania, which participated in the investigation, said the GRU operatives “were collecting military, governmental, and critical infrastructure-related information,” Romanian President Nicușor Dan said.

“Russia therefore continues its hybrid war against Western countries — only those acting in bad faith could fail to see this,” Dan said in a post on X.

The FBI also urged “all network defenders and owners of small office/home office (SOHO) routers to update to the latest firmware versions, change default usernames and passwords, disable remote management interfaces from the internet, and stay alert for certificate warnings in web browsers and email clients.”

THE LNER first class lounge at London King’s Cross Station will reopen tomorrow after a plush makeover.

It’s the perfect place to relax with plenty of seating, private booths and complimentary food and drink.

LNER is the only passenger lounge at King’s Cross Station and it closed a few months ago for an upgrade.

It will reopen on March 31, 2026 with a brand-new look – and it’s very fancy.

Inside is an open plan area with dark red walls and pink coloured furnishings along with elegant lamps and little tables.

New to the lounge are six booths that have been designed to be private and are ticked away from the main lounge.

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Each has charging ports, small desk and a lamp.

Anyone in the lounge can enjoy free food and drink which is available throughout the day.

In the morning, there’s a selection of pastries and in the afternoon there are cakes and muffins – and a range of biscuits and crisps.

There’s also fruit juices, tea and coffee.

Guests to the lounge can enjoy the snacks on the curved banquette seating, or nearby tables and chairs.

Thanks to the redesigning of the space, the capacity of the lounge has increased to 122.

Off the back of customer feedback, other additions include more luggage and storage areas and resigned the reception.

There are new screens too for platform information so customers shouldn’t miss their train – even if they’re relaxing in the lounge.

Colette Casey, Customer Experience Director at LNER, said: “The Lounge has been transformed into a modern, comfortable, relaxing area for our First Class customers to spend time in and enjoy before or after travelling with us, and we cannot wait to hear what they think of the changes.”

There is some disappointing news and that is that most travellers won’t be able to use the lounge as it’s only accessible to first-class LNER ticket holders.

But if you do have one of these tickets, then you can access the lounge from the ground floor located next to Waitrose.

Or head upstairs to the entrance on the mezzanine.

The lounge is open during the weekdays from 7am until 9.25pm.

Saturdays it’s open 8am to 8.15pm and 9am to 8.15pm on Sundays.

There’s also a free family zone with beach huts, a soft play area and a huge train set within London King’s Cross.

It’s right next to the Travel Centre and can be used by families who are booked onto trains departing the station – but it’s not limited to LNER customers.

Inside are four brightly-coloured beach huts complete with tabletop toys and games.

There’s a bespoke Hornby train set, keeping both big and little kids entertained.

And there’s a soft play area with a slide and a tiny black boulder doubling as a climbing frame.

Here’s another secret spot in London St Pancras…

Just opposite Kings Cross within St Pancras is somewhere else that you may not have stumbled upon – and you can get free drinks.

A hidden bar called the Booking Office 1869 is within the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London.

Each day at 5:05pm, visitors can have a free drink.

According to a TikTok video posted by @thecuriouspixie: “A bill rings, a flame ignites and a bartender will perform a full rum punch ritual.”

This happens at 5:05pm because the hotel originally opened on May 5, 1873, but the booking office opened in 1869 – which is where the name comes from.

For more on trains – this could be the most glamorous train ride ever with a beautiful bar and onboard suites.

And here’s more on how the first ever direct trains from London to Switzerland are even closer to launching.