Navigating choppy seas and Israeli gunboats, Gaza's fishermen are trying to get back to work

At Gaza's battered seaport, saltwater mixes with burnt fuel and rusting metal.

Around fifteen technicians work inside makeshift workshops made of corrugated iron, torn plastic, and tents. Their task is small but crucial: reviving tiny fishing boats to restore livelihoods for Gaza's fishermen, whose lives were upended.

Before Israel's genocidal war more than two years ago, 6,000 fishermen supported 50,000 people. Now, most boats are destroyed or submerged, huts in ruins, and the sea a zone of danger, according to official Palestinian data.  

The coastline, once vital, became a battlefield.

Yet, despite devastation, Palestinian fishermen are returning. 

Standing beside a small boat patched with fibreglass and scrap material, Attia Miqdad, a fisherman-turned-technician, gestures towards the empty harbour. "At the beginning of the war, the port was completely cleared of boats. The [Israeli] army destroyed almost everything," the 46-year-old father of seven told The New Arab.

According to Miqdad, around 90 per cent of Palestinian fishermen's boats were destroyed, and some estimates suggest the number is even higher. Repairing what remains has become an act of improvisation under siege.

"Essential materials, especially fibreglass, are either banned [by Israel] from entering Gaza or available only at extortionate prices on the black market," he said.

"Fibreglass is the backbone of any repair," Miqdad added. "Now it's almost impossible to find. Even when available, its cost has multiplied several times over."

Still, technicians salvage what they can. "The idea came from the fishermen themselves," he said. "We told ourselves: even if the boat is small, even if it's weak, at least let the fisherman earn enough to eat, to drink, to survive in this dead-end situation."

But the boats being repaired cannot venture far. They are vulnerable to wind, waves and engine failure. Nevertheless, for their owners, these boats represent something more than a tool; they are a fragile lifeline in a sea that an Israeli blockade has forcibly sealed.

Fishing under fire

Despite the efforts inside the Gaza seaport, the central problem remains unchanged: Gaza's fishermen are still targeted by the Israeli navy, banned from passing two nautical miles in the sea.

Israeli gunboats routinely harass fishermen even close to shore, opening fire, arresting crews and confiscating equipment. The threat is constant, unpredictable and often fatal.

Mahmoud al-Hissi, a fisherman from Gaza City and father of six, told TNA that "every trip is a gamble with death […] We go out knowing we might not come back."

"Our bodies are already broken, backs, shoulders, arms, but we still take the risk," he said.

The small, repaired boats add another layer of danger. If the wind rises beyond a certain point, they become almost impossible to control. "Some days, we can't even try," al-Hissi said. "The boat just won't move."

A handful of fishermen have managed to fish inside the port basin itself. For the first time in months, they hauled in small quantities of fish, barely enough to cover daily needs.

"It's not life. It's survival," al-Hissi stressed.

The destruction of Gaza's fishing industry is not accidental, Palestinian fishermen say, but part of a wider dismantling of Gaza's economic foundations, agriculture, trade, industry and food production by Israel. 

Ibrahim al-Quraan, a fisherman from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, recalled the port before the war, saying, "It was full of boats. Each one supported 40 or 50 people. We had a life."

"Now," he added, "everything is gone."

For fishermen, leaving the sea is not an option. "We're like fish," al-Quraan explained. "If we leave the sea, we die. We don't have factories, offices or other professions. The sea is our whole life."

After their boats were destroyed, some fishermen resorted to primitive methods, tying cork, plastic containers or empty water bottles together to float what remained of damaged hulls. "We're back to zero: Living on the bare minimum again," he remarked. 

Numbers behind the loss

Nizar Ayyash, head of Gaza's fishermen's union, told TNA that "the fishing sector was among the first and hardest hit. More than 90 per cent of fishing assets were destroyed, including boats, the Gaza port itself, the northern port, fishermen's huts and equipment."

In central and southern Gaza, he says, over 70 per cent of assets were destroyed.

"Supporting infrastructure, including ice factories, cold storage, solar power systems used for lighting and night fishing, was also wiped out," he added.

"These projects were built with years of effort," Ayyash explained. "Today, they don't exist."

But the most dangerous reality, Ayyash stressed, is the total closure of the sea by Israel. "More than 200 fishermen have been killed [by the Israeli navy] while trying to fish or even being near the water," he added.

Despite this, some continue to risk their lives. With food prices soaring and alternatives scarce, fishing, even under fire, remains one of the few ways to feed a family, according to Ayyash.

According to estimates by the Gaza fishermen's union and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), losses in the fishing sector reached around US$75 million in the first year of the war alone. Since then, the figure has risen sharply, while assistance remains minimal.

"The biggest obstacle is materials," Ayyash explained. "A fishing net that used to cost US$70 now costs US$1,000. A small oar that cost US$1,200 now costs US$15,000. Fibreglass doesn't exist."

"This reality has left even aid organisations unable to intervene meaningfully," he continued.

Allowing materials into Gaza could gradually revive the sector, Ayyash believes. "Fishermen need support from A to Z, but above all, they need access to the sea. The sea is their life," he added.