Palestinians Strive to Stop Gaza Shore Erosion with Concrete and Rubble

Palestinian children ride a camel at the beach during the hot summer weather along the coast of Gaza City, on July 22, 2022. (AFP)
Palestinian children ride a camel at the beach during the hot summer weather along the coast of Gaza City, on July 22, 2022. (AFP)
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Palestinians Strive to Stop Gaza Shore Erosion with Concrete and Rubble

Palestinian children ride a camel at the beach during the hot summer weather along the coast of Gaza City, on July 22, 2022. (AFP)
Palestinian children ride a camel at the beach during the hot summer weather along the coast of Gaza City, on July 22, 2022. (AFP)

Authorities in Gaza have ordered giant concrete blocks to be dropped along the shoreline as increasingly heavy seas eat into beaches that provide residents of the densely populated strip with a rare public space for relaxation.

The blocks, placed on beaches and offshore, are aimed at countering waves that have grown in force, eating away the foundations of some seaside cafes and buildings.

But officials, residents of beach areas and experts fear the concrete barricades may not stand another stormy winter and that high waves could cause the collapse of the coastal road and threaten homes.

Nasser Thabit, an official in the territory's Hamas-run Ministry of Public Works and Housing, said waves that reached up to 6 meters last year as the effects of climate change have become more pronounced had begun to nibble at the edges of the road.

"There are several fragile areas in Gaza Strip that would be impacted directly from a rising sea. There is a fear that should the waves get higher it may cause a catastrophe, and drown many of those residential areas," he said.

Thabit said proper long-lasting intervention - vertical wave breakers and retaining walls along all or at least the most at risk parts of the coast - could cost around $150 million and called for help from international donors.

Measuring 375 square km (145 square miles), Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a population of 2.3 million Palestinians, most of them live in refugee camps, some facing the ocean.

In the Beach refugee camp in Gaza City, home to 90,000 people, residents have watched over recent years as rising seas have eroded the beach completely. Broken fridges, large tires and bricks have all been thrown along the shore to hold back the sea to no effect.

"The refugee camp has no beach, there is no place for people to sit, therefore, people are forced to pay to go north or (south)," said Abdel-Karim Zaqout, a history teacher, whose house in the camp borders the ocean.

With Gaza's land borders tightly controlled by neighboring Israel and Egypt, the seaside is a precious resource for people looking to escape their day-to-day stresses.

In Central Gaza Strip, Radwan al-Shantaf, from Al-Zahra city municipality, said the authorities had used large quantities of the rubble of houses destroyed in the May 2021 Israeli bombardment to barricade beaches.

He said high waves had forced the owners of a bank to evacuate to a building deeper into the city, and the operators of a power plant to build a concrete wall to reinforce the outer fence.

"The advance of the sea decreased the beach area and finished off recreation, cafes and beachgoers spaces," Shantaf told Reuters, standing in front of the concrete reinforcement.



Tourists Return to Post-Olympic Paris for Holiday Magic

Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
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Tourists Return to Post-Olympic Paris for Holiday Magic

Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

Holidaymakers are returning to Paris for winter holiday magic as the tourism industry rebounds, inspired by the successful Olympic Games and the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral.
"This year there is much more tourism than last time I came here. Much much more. Many more people," said Noemi Rizzato, a tourist from Milan who braved the cold to visit the Place du Trocadero on the Right Bank of Paris, bundled up in her down jacket, AFP said.
Georges Bardot, a 78-year-old pensioner from eastern France, also pointed to large numbers of foreign tourists amid the holiday hustle and bustle in the City of Light.
"We heard every language except French spoken on the metro," Bardot laughed.
This winter, Parisian hotels are experiencing a surge in demand.
The booking rate for two-week Christmas vacations neared 70 percent in mid-December, nine percentage points higher than a year ago, according to data from MKG Consulting.
Top-of-the-range establishments are doing particularly well, with an increase of nearly 14 points over one year.
According to the UMIH hotel and restaurant union, well-heeled international customers are making a comeback.
Frank Delvau, UMIH president for the Paris region, pointed to an "Olympic effect".
The Games "have made tourists want to come back, or to visit", he said.
Tourism professionals said the world's largest sporting event led to a lackluster summer in Paris.
Wealthy Parisians fled the capital for the summer and many foreign holidaymakers chose to stay away due to transport gridlock and a security crackdown. Hotels and airlines such as Air France saw a drop in bookings, while taxi drivers and restaurant owners said their businesses had been badly affected.
With five billion viewers, the Paris Games were the most followed Games in television and social media history, according to the International Olympic Committee.
- 'Time to go to Paris' -
"We needed this catch-up effect because the situation was very difficult in the third quarter," Delvau said.
"There was a very sharp fall in visitor numbers. The restaurant business was down 40 percent, 50 percent at times," he added.
From November 1 to December 8, international air arrivals to Paris rose by 15.4 percent compared to 2023, to reach 1.3 million, according to the Paris Tourist Office.
On the Ile de la Cite, the island site of Notre Dame cathedral, shopkeepers eagerly await the return of visitors after five years of reconstruction work, as well as the coronavirus lockdowns that saw a drop in tourist numbers.
"The Notre Dame opening this year was the biggest item on our list," said Teju Arora, an engineer from the United States.
"And we did visit Notre Dame, it was amazing. It's a beautiful site and it was great to see, to pray, to visit," said Arora, wearing a red beret.
Around 270,000 people have visited the medieval masterpiece in the first eight days since Notre Dame reopened in early December, rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas told French daily Le Parisien. "Around 30,000 people a day enter the cathedral."
Tourists "tell themselves it's time to go to Paris", Delvau said.
"They have both Notre Dame and the department stores' windows, which always attract a lot of people."