GAZA, (PIC)
Fire in Gaza is no longer just a means to prepare food, but has become a daily trial faced by men and women driven by loss and hunger to work under harsh conditions, where the blaze of the ovens blends with the suffocating summer heat, and loaves of bread turn into the fruit of long hours of exhaustion and suffocation.
In worn-out tents pitched on sidewalks and among displacement camps, workers stand in front of the ovens from the early hours of the morning until sunset, facing smoke, ash, and high temperatures, in exchange for wages that are barely enough to secure one meal for their families.
While the bread comes out hot to the people, they return to their tents burdened with back pain, shortness of breath, and bodies exhausted by war and work together.
Estimates from the Palestinian Ministry of Labor indicate that tens of thousands of women have become the primary breadwinners for their families since the outbreak of the war, a matter that has pushed many of them to enter arduous professions they had never practiced before, including working in popular ovens.
From a housewife to an oven worker
Inside a modest oven west of Gaza City, Um Ahmad Abu Mghasib, 52 years old, begins her day shortly before sunrise. She wears clothes covered in layers of blackness resulting from the smoke, and sits for long hours in front of the oven door, moving loaves and monitoring their baking while drops of sweat pour from her.
She tells PIC that the war robbed her of her home and everything she owned, and she had no choice left but this work to secure food for her children.
She adds, “I return at the end of the day with my hands burned and my face full of ash, but when I buy bread or some food for my children, I feel that the fatigue did not go to waste.”
She explains that her modest wage does not match the scale of the hardship, but she has no other option, especially in light of the lack of job opportunities and the high prices of food items.
Smoke steals health
The suffering of Um Ahmad was not limited to physical exhaustion, but her health began to decline over the months.
She suffers from asthma and frequent choking fits due to the constantly rising smoke, along with chronic pain in her back and joints as a result of standing for long hours.
She says, “Sometimes I reach the tent and cannot even wash my face due to the scarcity of water, I sleep as I am, in my clothes and the smell of smoke fills my body.”
She points out that her children sometimes help her in the work, but they too have begun to suffer from skin infections and continuous fatigue.
Doubled heat and limited wages
A few meters away, Khaled Al-Masri, 28 years old, stands in front of another oven, continuing his work from morning until evening.
He says that working inside the tent is like standing in the heart of fire, as the heat emitted from the oven meets the heat of the sun, making breathing extremely difficult.
He adds, “I return to the tent suffering from a severe headache, and usually suffice with one meal a day, but what can I do? There is an entire family waiting for me to provide them with food.”
He stresses that what hurts him most is not the fatigue, but rather his feeling of helplessness to secure his family’s basic needs despite the long working hours.
Women carrying the burdens of the family
For her part, his wife Samar says that she shares with her husband the preparation of the dough and receiving customers, despite her suffering from health problems that worsened during the war.
She explains that she begins her day by trying to obtain water before reaching the oven, then spends long hours at work, before returning to her children, whom constant preoccupation has deprived of much care.
She says, “The war changed everything… we no longer have time for ourselves, nor even a chance to care for our health.”
She adds that her skin and hair have been clearly damaged due to continuous exposure to heat and smoke, while getting water to bathe has become a luxury that is rarely available.
Memories of a life completely changed
As for Reem Al-Najjar, 35 years old, she never imagined one day that she would spend her day in front of an oven operating on firewood.
She says that before the war, she was planning to open a small project to help her family, but the destruction that hit her house pushed her to search for any means to live.
She recounts, “Sometimes I bake varieties that I cannot buy for my daughters, so I feel great pain, but I console myself that patience is the only option.”
She indicates that she suffers from weak vision, chest pain, in addition to a skin rash that ointments failed to treat, due to her continuing to work daily.
A livelihood is stronger than fatigue
Despite the health hazards and psychological exhaustion accompanying the work, oven workers continue to perform their jobs, driven by their families’ need for food.
In Gaza, ovens are no longer just places for making bread, but have become witnesses to the stories of people forced by war to face fire every day, so that the flame of life does not go out inside their tents.
Between the summer heat and the blaze of the ovens, they continue the journey of searching for a livelihood, believing that steadfastness is no longer a slogan to be raised, but a loaf of bread snatched every day from the heart of fire.