Every morning, Fisherman Khalid Habib prepares the bait he uses to draw fish into the iron cage he submerges in Gaza’s waters to catch fish. As a result of Israel’s genocidal bombing of Gaza, most fishing nets have been destroyed and Palestinians have been forced to devise alternative fishing methods.
For Khalid this means making a little dough, which he then flavours with oil from a sardine can before submerging it in the water to begin his long day of fishing to try to earn a living.
A father, Khalid says he has mouths to feed at home and has no choice but to take to the sea, in spite of the destruction of boats and the targeting of fishermen by Israeli occupation forces.
“We use iron cages and put this dough at the entrance so that we could try to attract as many fish as possible,” he explains.
“As for the boat, it is another story,” he continues. “We extracted polystyrene from the commercial refrigerators, treated it and turned it into a floating device so that we could move in a small area inside the Gaza port to catch a few fish.”
The “boat”, which serves more like a surfboard, is susceptible to the elements which make it unstable, but the most deadly thing on the waters, Khalid explains, is that even during the ceasefire, occupation forces open fire at fishermen.
![Israeli occupation forces bombed Gaza Port and destroyed all motorised boats. In desperate need of food and money, one fisherman has used waste products to make a surfboard to get out to sea [Mohammed Asad]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/49f0fcbc-eb1f-4eeb-a7fe-3933a775dd0e-scaled-e1740224989377.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Every morning, Fisherman Khalid Habib prepares the bait he uses to draw fish into the iron cage he submerges in Gaza’s waters to catch fish. As a result of Israel’s genocidal bombing of Gaza, most fishing nets have been destroyed and Palestinians have been forced to devise alternative fishing methods.