Gazans Take Coastal Walks to Escape 'Double Confinement'

Palestinians walk on the beachfront of the Gaza Strip in a bid to escape the confinement of coronavirus restrictions -- which come on top of the Israeli blockade of the enclave | AFP
Palestinians walk on the beachfront of the Gaza Strip in a bid to escape the confinement of coronavirus restrictions -- which come on top of the Israeli blockade of the enclave | AFP
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Gazans Take Coastal Walks to Escape 'Double Confinement'

Palestinians walk on the beachfront of the Gaza Strip in a bid to escape the confinement of coronavirus restrictions -- which come on top of the Israeli blockade of the enclave | AFP
Palestinians walk on the beachfront of the Gaza Strip in a bid to escape the confinement of coronavirus restrictions -- which come on top of the Israeli blockade of the enclave | AFP

At sunrise in Gaza, the strip's coastal path begins to fill up with pedestrians, as growing numbers of Palestinians have taken up walking to relieve stress trapped inside the Israel-blockaded enclave.

Life in Gaza, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas since 2007, was mentally taxing even before the novel coronavirus outbreak brought additional hardship, including nightly curfews and tight movement restrictions.

"There's a lot of mental pressure in Gaza. We suffer from it," said 40-year-old Walid al-Louh, wearing a New York Yankees cap.

"People come out to walk along the seashore, just to let off steam."

As the pandemic has dragged on, larger crowds of men in tracksuits and women -- whose running shoes are just barely visible beneath their long robes -- stroll, or stride briskly, along Gaza's Mediterranean coastline.

"I used to walk before coronavirus," Louh told AFP. "There were maybe dozens of people walking then, but now it's hundreds and hundreds."

One of the new devotees is Hanadi al-Akawy, 32, who said she walks five kilometers (three miles) a day with her husband "to get rid of psychological pressure".

- 'Window of freedom' -

Gaza's densely-packed population of two million people was, in the early phase of the global pandemic, seen as uniquely protected given the movement restrictions already in place.

The coastal strip has only two entry and exit points, the Erez crossing to Israel and the Rafah crossing to Egypt.

The flow of people through Erez is tightly controlled by Israel, which has fought three wars with Hamas since 2008, and maintains a crippling blockade it says is necessary to contain a hostile Islamist group.

As the virus began to spread globally, both crossings were almost completely closed, and Hamas imposed strict quarantine measures for the small numbers of people allowed in and out.

Gaza's health infrastructure is weak, partly due to the blockade, so when the virus began to spread within the enclave, Hamas imposed draconian measures to contain it.

Those included nightly curfews and a mandatory 5:00 pm closing hour for businesses.

Gazans began to lament their "double confinement," referring to coronavirus restrictions and the blockade.

Gaza has so far recorded more than 10,500 Covid-19 cases, including 48 deaths.

However, fears that a raging pandemic would devastate the enclave's vulnerable and impoverished population have not materialized.

But for psychiatrist Samir Zaqout, the additional stress brought by the pandemic was "too much" for a population that already felt imprisoned.

The Gaza-based expert said that watching people take their coastline jaunts reminds him of prison inmates relishing their daily walk in the exercise yard, before being sent back to their cells.

"People do what they can to let out their emotions," Zaqout told AFP. "Walking is a part of that, especially since the seaside is our only window of freedom."

- 'Walking is life' -

Zaqout said Hamas has not done enough to mitigate mental health issues in the strip.

According to a 2017 study published by the PLOS ONE scientific journal, the Palestinian Territories had the highest rates of depression compared to a group of 20 countries surveyed, which ranged from Morocco to Afghanistan.

A 2020 poll from the British charity Islamic Relief said that 80 percent of 2,000 workers surveyed in Gaza reported having "mental problems" caused by the pandemic, which reduced their already limited income.



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.