DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Residents of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza are preparing to cast ballots in municipal elections on April 25 — the first electoral process since the 2006 legislative vote —amid deep political frustration and an enduring divide between Gaza and the West Bank.

The vote takes place against the backdrop of a landscape and society fractured by more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

A total of 1,029,550 people are eligible to vote in local elections across the West Bank, and in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, the only municipality in the Gaza Strip participating in the vote. In Gaza, 70,449 people are eligible to vote, per data from the Palestine Central Elections Commission. The process will result in the formation of 136 municipal councils and 284 village councils.

Deir al-Balah is considered one of the few cities in Gaza that escaped widespread destruction, compared with other areas, during the war that broke out in October 2023. The city's 5.7 square miles now hosts a population of tens of thousands of displaced persons from across Gaza.