Quietly balanced above what was once a refrigerator door, the Khaled Habib fisherman uses a makeshift paddle to propel himself through the waters of the Gaza City fishing port.
More than 15 months of Israeli bombing destroyed most of the port boats, destroying the means of fishermen to earn a living.
“We are in a very difficult situation today and we fight with fishing. There are no fishing boats left. They were all destroyed and thrown on the ground, “said Habib.
“I made this boat from the doors of the refrigerator and cork, and fortunately, it worked.”
To continue to feed his family, Habib had the idea of stuffing cork in old refrigerator doors to make them dynamic. He covered one side with wood and the other with plastic sheets to help make the board with tightly suiting paddle paddle.
Habib has also developed an out of the wire fishing cage due to the lack of nets, but admitted that its resulting intake was “small”.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in December that the conflict had led the “former fishing sector of Gaza to the edge of collapse”.
“The average daily dies of Gaza between October 2023 to April 2024 fell to only 7.3% of the levels of 2022, resulting in a loss of production of $ 17.5 million,” FAO said.
Using the dough as bait, Habib now fishs mainly inside the small ports area.
Despite the fragile ceasefire which entered into force on January 19 and which largely interrupted the fighting, Habib said that fishing outside the port was not authorized. “If we go [outside the fishermen’s harbour]Israeli boats will shoot us, “he said.
