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Amid War and Deep Hunger, Gaza Fishermen Struggle to Feed Families

Palestinian fishermen work, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, along the coast of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian fishermen work, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, along the coast of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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Amid War and Deep Hunger, Gaza Fishermen Struggle to Feed Families

Palestinian fishermen work, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, along the coast of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian fishermen work, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, along the coast of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

After over a year of war in Gaza, Palestinian fishermen gather along the coastline, desperately casting their nets in hopes of catching enough for their families amid widespread hunger.

Since Israel began a military onslaught in Gaza after Hamas' October 2023 attack, Israeli restrictions in the waters off the enclave have made life almost impossible for fishermen, who no longer sail out to sea and instead must stay by the shore.

In Khan Younis, Ibrahim Ghurab, 71, and Waseem Al Masry, 24, fish for sardines from the shoreline in front of a encampment of tents and makeshift shelters for those displaced by the war.

"Life is difficult," Ghurab said. "One tries to secure food. There is no aid, we don't receive anything anymore. In the beginning there was some (humanitarian) aid, very little, but now there is no more."

According to Reuters, fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families. There is rarely any fish left over from a daily haul to be sold to others.

Fishing was an important part of daily life in Gaza before the war, helping people eke out a living by selling their daily hauls in the market and feed the population.

But scant aid is reaching Gaza amid Israeli restrictions and frequent fighting, and many people have no income. The price of simple goods are largely out of reach for most.

"We have to come here and risk our lives," Al Masry said, describing shootings by the Israeli military from the sea that he accused of targeting fisherman on the beach in Khan Younis.

Ghurab similarly said that Israeli military boats had fired upon fisherman at Khan Younis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Winter Rains Pile Misery on War-torn Gaza's Displaced

With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP
With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP
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Winter Rains Pile Misery on War-torn Gaza's Displaced

With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP
With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP

At a crowded camp in Gaza for those displaced by the Israeli war on the strip, Ayman Siam laid concrete blocks around his tent to keep his family dry as rain threatened more misery.

"I'm trying to protect my tent from the rainwater because we are expecting heavy rain. Three days ago when it rained, we were drenched," Siam said, seeking to shield his children and grandchildren from more wet weather.

Siam is among thousands sheltering at Gaza City's Yarmuk sports stadium in the north after being uprooted by the Israeli bombardment.

He lives in one of many flimsy tents set up at the stadium, where the pitch has become a muddy field dotted with puddles left by rainfall that washed away belongings and shelters.

People in the stadium dug small trenches around their tents, covered them with plastic sheets, and did whatever they could to stop the water from entering their makeshift homes.

Others used spades to direct the water into drains, as grey skies threatened more rain.

- 'Catastrophic' -

The majority of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the war that began with Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 44,235 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

With many displaced living in tent camps, the coming winter is raising serious concerns.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, told AFP that "tens of thousands of displaced people, especially in the central and south of Gaza Strip, are suffering from flooded tents due to the rains", and called on the international community to provide tents and aid.

International aid organizations have sounded the alarm about the deteriorating situation as winter approaches.

"It's going to be catastrophic," warned Louise Wateridge, an emergency officer for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees currently in Gaza.

"People don't have anything that they need," she said from Gaza City. "They haven't had basic, basic, basic things for 13 months, not food, not water, not shelter," she added.

"It's going to be miserable, it's going to be very desperate."

The rainy period in Gaza lasts between late October and April, with January being the wettest month, averaging 30 to 40 millimetres of rain.

Winter temperatures can drop as low as six degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit), AFP reported.

Recent rain has flooded hundreds of tents near the coast in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, as well as in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south, according to Gaza's civil defense.

- 'Nothing left' -

Auni al-Sabea, living in a tent in Deir el-Balah, was among those bearing the brunt of the weather without proper accommodation.

"The rain and seawater flooded all the tents. We are helpless. The water took everything from the tent, including the mattresses, blankets and a water jug. We were only able to get a mattress and blankets for the children," said the displaced man.

"Now, we are in the street and we have nothing left," said the 40-year-old from Al-Shati Camp.

At the stadium, Umm Ahmed Saliha showed the water that pooled under her tent during morning prayers. "All of this is from this morning's rain and winter hasn't even started properly."