From Rubble to Resilience: Gaza's Tailors Sew Together Hope

In Gaza, men on sewing machines work in a new factory started by Omar Samer Shaat, who salvaged materials from the rubble to aid the local economy. Many residents are displaced, living in tents or shelters. The factory aims to provide jobs and essential goods despite tight Israeli border controls.

In an upstairs room behind the shattered walls of a Gaza building, sewing machines whir as men work at crowded tables—a Palestinian businessman's effort to revive the enclave's economy after enduring nine months of relentless Israeli bombardment.

Nearly all of Gaza Strip's 2.3 million inhabitants have lost their homes, with shops, markets, and factories reduced to rubble by the Israeli military's response to the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Gaza's desperate population, largely living in tents or communal shelters, struggle to afford the scant food and goods available in makeshift markets among the ruins. Businessman Omar Samer Shaat, whose factory in Rafah was destroyed, has opened a new workshop in Khan Younis, employing tailors displaced by the fighting.

Salvaged machinery and materials from the former factory allow the new workshop to function. Inside, men work at tables under lightbulbs strung from the ceiling, piecing together clothes with tools retrieved from the rubble. With Israel's tightened siege on Gaza, ordinary goods like clothes are scarce.

'The border crossings have been shut for some time. Ready-made clothes do not enter, nor does fabric or anything,' Shaat said. 'We decided to open this factory in this shelled house so it can produce for the people.'

Sami Hassouna, a displaced tailor in Shaat's workshop, is sheltering near Al-Aqsa University. 'We retrieved the machinery, fabric, and needles from under the rubble,' he explained. 'But we need continuity, and this requires the entry of new raw material,' he added.

(With inputs from agencies.)