GAZA CITY: Balanced calmly on top of what was once a refrigerator door, fisherman Khaled Habib uses a makeshift paddle to propel himself through the waters of Gaza City’s fishing port.
Israeli bombardment over more than 15 months of war has destroyed most of the boats in the harbor, wrecking the fishermen’s means of making a living.
“We’re in a very difficult situation today, and struggling with the fishing. There are no fishing boats left. They’ve all been destroyed and tossed on the ground,” said Habib.
“I made this ‘boat’ from refrigerator doors and cork — and thankfully it worked.”
So he could continue feeding his family, Habib came up with the idea of stuffing cork into old fridge doors to make them buoyant.
He covered one side with wood and the other with plastic sheeting to help make the makeshift paddleboard waterproof.
Habib also crafted a fishing cage out of wire because of the lack of nets but admitted that his resulting catch was “small.”
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said in December that the conflict had taken Gaza’s “once thriving fishing sector to the brink of collapse.”
“Gaza’s average daily catch between October 2023 to April 2024 dropped to just 7.3 percent of 2022 levels, causing a $17.5 million production loss,” the FAO said.
Habib now fishes mainly inside the small port area using dough as bait.
Despite the fragile ceasefire that came into force on Jan. 19, which essentially halted the fighting, Habib said that fishing outside the port is prohibited.
“If we go (outside the fishermen’s harbor), the Israeli boats will shoot at us, and that’s a problem we suffer from a lot.”
Habib said he catches enough fish to feed his family and tries to help others by selling the rest at an affordable price.
After dividing his catch into small plastic bags, the fisherman sells some at the high prices at the harbor market.
The first phase of the Gaza truce, which ended on March 1, had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter, and medical assistance into the Palestinian territory.
Israel announced on March 2 that it was blocking aid deliveries to Gaza, where Palestinians say they fear food shortages and price hikes.
Several other fishermen, particularly the younger generation, have also used the new makeshift floating platforms.
Habib sees the homemade paddleboards as having a dual purpose.
“If we wanted to raise a new generation to learn how to swim, boats should be made from refrigerator doors, and then everyone would learn how to swim, row, and sail,” he said.
“Thank God, now they’ve learned how to swim,” he added, looking over the water at children trying to keep their balance.
