Mohammed, a resident of Ram Allah who has studied and lived in the United States, said that Palestinians are peace-loving. He said that people need to know why Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

"We need to know the reason why. Okay, before October 7 – did you know that they (Israelis) killed ten people or was it 15 in Jenin? The same number in Al Farah, Nablus and elsewhere. They used to do it to us all the time before October 7," he said.

People in the West Bank lament the world not seeing Palestinians' suffering.

Pictures of children killed in Gaza have been set up in Ram Allah, captioned: "We are not statistics, numbers."

Living in the Al-Am'ari refugee camp, a stone's throw from Ram Allah, are families who lost their homes when Israel was created in 1948-1949 and in the 1967 war. Many families still hold the keys to their abandoned homes. The symbol of a key is omnipresent.

"They were meant to go back but couldn't because Jewish families were already living there. The key is all they have left. The house is gone," Maher from Jerusalem, who is Palestinian but also an Israeli citizen, said.

But the Palestinians have also found help and compassion. Chie from Japan orders needlepoint from Palestinian women.

"This is made by women in Gaza and I wear it to demonstrate my support, sympathy and empathy for Gaza. It is Japanese but sports a Palestinian design," she said of her robe, adding that many people in Japan are concerned about what is happening in Gaza and Palestine," she said.

What does the future hold for Gaza, and is it possible to destroy Hamas?

"The future of Gaza is very dark. But Hamas is not just Hamas, it is an ideology, a cast of mind. Everyone is Hamas there. It is everywhere. It is not just a military phenomenon, it is an ideology, a way of understanding the world," barber Mohammed said.

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