Gaza Carpenter Crafts Wooden Sandals for Daughters as War Rages

 Palestinian Saber Dawas crafts wooden sandals due to a shortage of footwear in the enclave and the lack of financial means to afford those which are available in the market, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the the southern Gaza Strip, September 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinian Saber Dawas crafts wooden sandals due to a shortage of footwear in the enclave and the lack of financial means to afford those which are available in the market, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the the southern Gaza Strip, September 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Purchase Licensing Rights
TT

Gaza Carpenter Crafts Wooden Sandals for Daughters as War Rages

 Palestinian Saber Dawas crafts wooden sandals due to a shortage of footwear in the enclave and the lack of financial means to afford those which are available in the market, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the the southern Gaza Strip, September 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinian Saber Dawas crafts wooden sandals due to a shortage of footwear in the enclave and the lack of financial means to afford those which are available in the market, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the the southern Gaza Strip, September 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Purchase Licensing Rights

Twelve-year-old Heba Dawas lost her footwear in the chaos while fleeing Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

So her carpenter father made wooden-soled sandals for her so she can tread more safely through the tonnes of rubble, hot sand and twisted metal of the besieged Palestinian enclave.

"When we were displaced, we started running and the sandals broke," said Heba, who lives in a tent camp with her family in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

"I threw them off and started running. Our feet became very hot. So, we had to make sandals from wood," she said, walking on hot sand with her new footwear.

Her father Saber Dawas, 39, came up with the idea after finding the price of sandals too expensive. Now his daughter does not have to go barefoot amid the ruins of Gaza.

"I had to make a tailored size for each daughter," Reuters quoted Dawas saying.

- SANDALS IN DEMAND

Soon enough, his neighbours noticed him making the sandals and started asking him to make some for their children.

Using basic carpentry tools, he made them for "a symbolic price," he says.

The sandals have a wooden sole and a strap made of a rubber strip or fabric. But there was a challenge in finding more wood because Palestinians needed it for cooking and fires.

"Everything here in Gaza is difficult to find," Dawas said, rubbing the base of a sandal with one of his young daughters watching by his side.

Making wooden sandals may ease the pressure of the war but life is still fraught with challenges in Gaza, where the Israeli offensive against Hamas has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Nearly 2 million people have been displaced, often repeatedly, Gazan health officials say.

Hamas triggered the war on Oct. 7 when the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel.

A humanitarian crisis has gripped Gaza since then with Palestinians struggling to find food, water and fuel as they move up and down the territory seeking a safe place to shelter.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have failed to secure a ceasefire through mediation after many attempts.

The border crossing with Egypt has been shut, bringing the flow of aid and basic goods such as shoes to a halt.

"People now are walking around with mismatched shoes," said Momen al-Qarra, a Palestinian cobbler repairing old shoes in a little market in Khan Younis.

"If the situation continues like this for two weeks or a month at the most, without the opening of the border, people will be barefoot."



With Hospitals Full in Lebanon, Family Flees to Give Birth in Iraq

Lubana Ismail, a displaced Lebanese woman who fled from her home in Tyre due to Israeli bombardments in Southern Lebanon, holds her newborn baby girl, Zahraa, to whom she gave birth in Iraq, as she sits with her family at a hotel in Najaf, Iraq, October 7, 2024. (Reuters)
Lubana Ismail, a displaced Lebanese woman who fled from her home in Tyre due to Israeli bombardments in Southern Lebanon, holds her newborn baby girl, Zahraa, to whom she gave birth in Iraq, as she sits with her family at a hotel in Najaf, Iraq, October 7, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

With Hospitals Full in Lebanon, Family Flees to Give Birth in Iraq

Lubana Ismail, a displaced Lebanese woman who fled from her home in Tyre due to Israeli bombardments in Southern Lebanon, holds her newborn baby girl, Zahraa, to whom she gave birth in Iraq, as she sits with her family at a hotel in Najaf, Iraq, October 7, 2024. (Reuters)
Lubana Ismail, a displaced Lebanese woman who fled from her home in Tyre due to Israeli bombardments in Southern Lebanon, holds her newborn baby girl, Zahraa, to whom she gave birth in Iraq, as she sits with her family at a hotel in Najaf, Iraq, October 7, 2024. (Reuters)

Lubana Ismail had just fled her village in southern Lebanon with her husband and two children when she went into labor. She had swollen veins in her uterus and needed immediate medical supervision to give birth safely.

They searched for a hospital in Beirut or Sidon that would admit her, but all were full of the dead and wounded.

"No hospital accepted me. We were turned away everywhere until my father suggested we go to Iraq," she recounted.

So they boarded a flight and flew to Najaf. It was there, in a former war zone 1,000 km (600 miles) from home, that Lubana finally gave birth to baby Zahraa, healthy and safe.

The proud father, Fouad Youssef, recounted the perils of their evacuation.

"At first, we went to Tyre, but a strike hit directly next to us. We decided to go to Beirut, thinking it would be safer, but even on the way, a strike hit near us,” he said.

"During our two days of displacement, I tried to get my wife into a hospital because her labor was difficult. But due to the high number of injuries and martyrs, there were no vacancies."

More than a million Lebanese have fled their homes since Israel intensified its airstrikes and launched a ground campaign in southern Lebanon against the Hezbollah movement which has been striking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Imran Riza, UN humanitarian coordinator, said the pace of displacement since Sept. 23 had exceeded worst case scenarios, and too much damage was being done to civilian infrastructure.

Najaf is accustomed to handling the emergency medical needs of foreigners, and Iraqis have endured almost two decades of war at home. But receiving refugees from Lebanon is unexpected. Iraq's interior ministry says around 5,700 Lebanese have arrived so far.

Lubana and Fouad are grateful to have found a safe place to bring their family and give birth to their daughter. But they have no idea what will come next.

"We are afraid the war will go on for a long time. What will happen to our children? We were preparing them for school, but now there is no education. Are we going to stay here? Are we leaving? Are we going back to our country?" pondered Youssef, watching news of the destruction in Lebanon on his mobile screen.