Traditional clay pottery is seeing a resurgence in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are forced to find solutions for a shortage of plates and other crockery to eat from in the territory ravaged by more than a year of war. “There is an unprecedented demand for plates as no supplies enter the Gaza Strip,” 26-year-old potter Jafar Atallah said in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah.
The vast majority of the Palestinian territory’s 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the war that began with Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Fleeing bombs amid Israel’s devastating retaliatory military offensive, which has destroyed large amounts of civilian infrastructure, everyday items like cups and bowls have often been lost, broken, or left behind to perish.
With imports made increasingly difficult by Israeli restrictions, Gazans have had to find resourceful ways to meet their needs since the war began. To keep up with demand, Mr. Atallah works non-stop out of a bare-bones workshop set up under a thin blue plastic sheet, producing around 100 pieces a day, mainly bowls and cups.
He carefully shapes the clay into much-needed crockery, then leaves his terracotta creations to dry in the sun — one of the few things Gaza still has plenty of. Each object is sold for 10 shekels, the equivalent of $2.70 — nearly five times what it was worth before the war led to widespread shortages and sent prices soaring.
Gazans have said they are struggling to find all types of basic household goods.
Published – November 25, 2024 10:14 am IST
