Boatless in Gaza: Using old fridge doors to catch fish

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.

More than 15 months of Israeli bombardment has destroyed most of the boats in the harbour, 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.”

To 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 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 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.

Using dough as bait, Habib now fishes mainly inside the small port area.

Despite the fragile ceasefire that came into force on January 19, and which largely halted the fighting, Habib said fishing outside the port is not allowed. “If we go [outside the fishermen’s harbour], the Israeli boats will shoot at us,” he said.