It's late on a Friday evening, at Mount Everest's base camp, 17,500 feet above sea level, when Mostafa Salameh speaks to Middle East Eye over the phone.
"It's a clear sky tonight, after it's been snowing in the past week," he says, sounding upbeat from his tent.
This is his sixth attempt to summit the world's highest peak, in the Himalayas, measuring some 29,000 feet. He has been successful on the last three consecutive trips, and he's raised more than $8m for charitable causes, including cancer research and the United Nations children's agency, Unicef.
This trip, however, has a particular, more personal resonance.
"For the children of Gaza, [to] make them believe in their dream. And to tell them, listen, I'm one of you. If I was able to do it this way, I think anybody can do it," Salameh said.
