GAZA / PNN /
Since the onset of the war on Gaza, Israel has deliberately made life increasingly difficult for civilians, cutting off access to water, electricity and fuel. In response, residents have resorted to primitive methods to survive and adapt to the harsh conditions. Among the most striking signs of this adaptation is the revival of traditional tools, as prices skyrocket, fuel and firewood run scarce, and cooking gas becomes unavailable.
Gaza resident Sami Juda has returned to his old profession, repairing kerosene stoves, helping people endure wartime hardship. With a bitter smile, he says, “People reached the moon, and we in Gaza have gone back to using the babour, a stove the world abandoned in 1949.
Juda previously worked as an electric appliance repairman, but following the outbreak of the genocidal war on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent siege that blocked fuel and gas supplies, families began retrieving their dusty old kerosene stoves from storage and rooftops, using them once again for cooking and basic survival.
Sami first learned how to repair babours after the 2008 war and has since honed the skill through Gaza’s successive conflicts. Today, he is witnessing, and enduring, the brutality of the current war. He repairs and welds stove heads, fabricates spare parts, and restores functionality to these relics, helping residents meet basic needs in the face of relentless adversity.
“The babour, once worthless outside Gaza, now sells for up to 700 shekels since the war began,” Juda says. “It has become a rare, valuable item. With soaring prices, no access to gas, and firewood costing 50 shekels per kilo, people have turned to diesel despite its high cost 30 shekels per liter because it lasts longer when used in a babour.”
Juda, like so many in Gaza, ended his remarks with a plea to the world to end the deadly war. “While people elsewhere travel to the moon, we in Gaza are forced back to primitive means. We are exhausted by the hardship, the scarcity, and the soaring prices.”
This story was produced as part of the "Qarib" program, implemented by the French media development agency CFI and funded by the French Agency for Development (AFD)
