00:00And across Gaza, residents are turning to improvised materials and small-scale repairs
00:04to make damaged homes and businesses habitable again as large-scale reconstruction remains out of reach.
00:14Across Gaza, residents are trying to make their homes and businesses habitable again,
00:18using whatever materials they can find as large-scale reconstruction remains stalled.
00:22The destruction has left many families without permanent shelter,
00:25while restrictions on construction materials have made even basic repairs difficult and expensive.
00:30In the Shathi refugee camp, Alaa Jouda decided to build a wooden home on top of the rubble of his
00:36destroyed house.
00:37For Jouda, wood became an alternative to cement because conventional construction materials remain difficult to obtain.
00:43But he says the improvised structure cannot replace the home his family once had.
00:48The main reason of using wood was due to the lack of construction materials and supplies.
00:54While we used wood as a substitute for cement, it certainly does not replace our original cement homes.
01:02In central Gaza, another displaced resident has taken an even more basic approach.
01:06After months of living in tents, Khalil Abu Ramadan began building a room for his family using mud moulds.
01:11With conventional building materials severely restricted, he turned to an ancient construction technique,
01:17researching how similar structures were built in the past.
01:19He says the decision came from the need to find protection from Gaza's extreme temperatures,
01:24while his family remained without a permanent home.
01:28The idea of building a room out of mud came to me because we were living in tents
01:33that offered no protection against the winter cold or the summer heat.
01:37I researched on the Internet how our ancestors used to build such structures and put that knowledge into practice.
01:44But even this low-cost alternative presented major obstacles.
01:48Abu Ramadan says he had to obtain the mud from areas within the Yellow Line,
01:52while water shortages made the construction process even more difficult.
01:55A project that he says could normally have taken about a week instead lasted more than a month.
02:03I faced many challenges, starting with the mud itself.
02:07I had to bring it from the eastern areas from within the Yellow Line, designated by the Occupation Army.
02:13My friends and I would take risks to bring the mud back and build with it.
02:17We also struggled greatly with water shortages as the supply arrived only once a week.
02:24Under normal circumstances, I could build this house in a week if the resources were available.
02:30But due to these difficulties, it took me over a month to complete.
02:37The same struggle is playing out in Gaza City,
02:40where residents are also trying to restore damaged businesses and homes.
02:44Isma Dader has been using fabric and other available materials to repair buildings that were damaged or burned,
02:49helping some owners make their properties usable again or reopen their businesses.
02:53But the scarcity of basic supplies has pushed prices sharply higher.
02:57A box of screws that once cost around 30 shekels can now cost as much as 600,
03:02while some fabric has increased from around 15 or 20 shekels a meter to more than 70.
03:07Dader says these repairs are not about restoring what existed before,
03:11but about creating spaces where people can once again live and work.
03:20Our homeland is gone, our homes are gone,
03:23and the commercial facilities that secured our income
03:25and supported our families and education are lost.
03:28We had no choice but to try to improve the visual environment,
03:31creating something livable amidst the reality we face,
03:33and in the shadow of closed crossings and the resulting psychological and physical trauma
03:38that we, our children, and all families in the community here in Gaza are facing.
03:47Aid agencies have warned that rebuilding Gaza on a large scale could take years
03:51because of the extent of the destruction and restrictions on construction materials entering the territory.
03:56In the meantime, residents are relying on improvised solutions to rebuild what they can,
04:00one room, one home, and one business at a time.
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