GAZA, (PIC)
The suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is no longer limited to searching for a safe place to take shelter from the bombardment, but has extended to the simplest details of daily life; from a bed to sleep on, to a wardrobe to keep clothes, reaching primitive health facilities that help secure the minimum level of human dignity inside the tents.
With the continuation of the war, the expansion of the destruction and displacement area, and the absence of many basic needs from the markets, thousands of displaced people found themselves facing a new reality that forced them to reinvent their daily life tools from the debris of destroyed houses, or from what was available from the surrounding environment, in a scene where the cruelty of war mixes with continuous attempts to adapt and survive.
Furniture from rubble
On the doorsteps of a small tent in the Mawasi of Khan Yunis, Tamer Hamdan, 32 years old, stands looking with pleasure at a bed that took three continuous days to complete, after spending long months sleeping on a worn-out mattress on a damp floor inside his tent.
Hamdan says, “I did not imagine that the displacement would last this long. At the beginning we thought that the matter was a matter of days and we would return, but the time became long, and life inside the tent became in need of basic things so we can bear it.”
He adds, “I bought the wood of rubble despite its high price and made a simple bed from it, because sleeping on the ground became very tiring, especially with the humidity and cold. I want to make beds for the children too, but everything is expensive and difficult.”
The wood from rubble, known locally as “mashatih”, has become a basic material on which the displaced rely to manufacture beds, tables, chairs, and small wardrobes, after it turned into the most present alternative in light of the absence of traditional furniture from the markets.
A carpentry workshop between the tarpaulins
And on Al-Rashid coastal street west of Khan Yunis, Nahed Abu Azab reopened his carpentry workshop inside a simple space covered by plastic tarpaulins, after the war destroyed his main carpentry workshop in the town of Abasan east of the city.
Abu Azab says, “Before the war I used to work on doors, windows, and bedrooms, and today everything changed. We started working with what is available, and we reuse very simple wood so we can meet the needs of people inside the tents.”
He adds, “People want anything to help them live; a chair, a table, a small wardrobe, or even a base elevated from the ground. And with the high prices of materials and the interruption of most goods, recycling became part of our day and our work.”
Health facilities from the rubble
And in a small corner west of Khan Yunis, Youssef Saud, 25 years old, displays alternative home toilets manufactured from marble and ceramic slabs that were re-collected from damaged houses and facilities.
Saud says, “The alternative became a necessity. Ready-made toilets are almost missing, and what is available of them, its price is very high, therefore people started searching for solutions in any way.”
He adds, “Even dishes washing sinks we started making them from old metal containers fixed on wooden bases. People are trying to provide anything that helps them inside the tent, even with very simple capabilities.”
Old clothes turn into daily tools
The adaptation attempts were not limited to furniture only, but extended to old clothes and fabrics that lost their main function and turned into tools used daily inside the tents.
Um Mohammad Al-Najjar, a displaced woman in the Mawasi of Khan Yunis, says, “Every piece of fabric has become valuable. We used the old blankets and damaged clothes as internal curtains, so we can separate between the sleeping place of the children and the rest of the tent and maintain our privacy.”
She continues, “There are things we used to consider very simple before the war, and today they became necessary. Even old fabrics we started sewing covers from them to keep clothes or food items inside the tent.”
Empty containers, a store for water and basic needs
In light of the worsening water crisis, empty plastic containers became part of the daily scene inside the camps.
Salem Abu Shamala, from a camp west of Khan Yunis, says, “The plastic container today has a great value. We use it to transport water and store it for days, especially with the difficulty of providing water regularly.”
He adds, “Even small containers became a means to keep oil, flour, or any basic thing, because alternatives do not exist or their prices are above the capacity of people.”
Palm fronds as an alternative to wood
On the outskirts of the camps, palm fronds emerged as one of the alternatives forced by need.
Mustafa Al-Agha, 42 years old, says, “At the beginning we used it for shading only, and after a period people started making simple wardrobes and internal partitions from it inside the tents.”
He adds, “Wood is expensive and rare, and fronds are available in some agricultural areas, therefore we started to benefit from it to keep clothes and blankets and keep them away from sand and humidity.”
Rubble turns into a means for survival
The remnants of destroyed houses are no longer just a scene from the effects of war, but have become part of the details of daily life inside the camps.
Mahmoud Baraka, a displaced person from the east of Khan Yunis, says, “Stones and concrete remnants have started to be used to fix tents so they do not move with the wind, and sometimes we benefit from iron and metal sheets in making barriers or temporary doors.”
He adds, “No one expected us to reach a stage where we manufacture our needs from the remnants of our houses, but this is the reality today.”
An economy forced by war
Economic specialists see that what Gaza is witnessing today represents a clear form of “circular economy”, based on reusing materials and remnants and converting them into new products.
But this model in Gaza does not come within developmental or environmental plans, rather it was forced by the conditions of war, after the collapse of markets, the prevention of the entry of many raw materials, and the rise in poverty and unemployment rates.
In light of this reality, the reuse of rubble, house remnants, and simple available materials has become a daily necessity forced by need, while Palestinians inside the tents try to manufacture what helps them to continue, and cling to the simplest fundamentals of life.
In Gaza today, rubble is no longer just an effect left by the war, but has turned in many cases into a new resource for life, and into a space in which Palestinians face the cruelty of war with daily innovation that insists on survival despite everything.