Gazans flee scorching tents for a polluted sea

GAZA CITY – Residents of the Gaza Strip have been flocking ​from suffocating tents to the territory’s polluted Mediterranean shore to bathe and wash their clothes, as ‌summer temperatures rise and fresh water remains hard to come by.
Nearly all Gaza’s population was displaced during two years of war between Israel and Hamas, with Gazans now crammed into a narrow strip along the coast, mainly in tents and damaged buildings.
“The only outlet in the ​Gaza Strip, from north to south, is the sea,” said Wadie al-Ras, 36, a displaced Palestinian standing ​on Gaza City’s shore.
“The tents we have been staying in since the war are ⁠a torment.”
Before war with Israel broke out in October 2023, Gaza City’s sandy beach was a favourite spot for ​locals to relax. Now it is their only refuge from the crammed, makeshift tents, which are a hotbed of bugs ​and disease.
Temperatures in Gaza range between 28 and 31 degrees Celsius in the mornings, and inside the tents, it feels far hotter.
The sea offers little comfort. The water is thick with sewage and waste, the result of a collapse of infrastructure that once served a population ​of more than two million people.
“The seawater is not clean. There’s sewage in it, filled with dirt,” said ​Shehab al-Suwaireki, 36, a displaced father of six.
“Residents resort to the beach despite all the ​dangers,” Muhanna said.
The war began ​when Hamas-led militants attacked ⁠Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.
Israel responded with an all-out assault on Gaza that killed at least 73,000 Palestinians, according to health ​officials in the Hamas-controlled territory.
Despite an October 2025 truce, Israel has continued to carry ​out deadly attacks in ⁠Gaza, which it says aim to thwart imminent attacks by Hamas and other militants. Hamas has so far rebuffed calls to lay down its arms in exchange for Israel withdrawing its troops.
Aid and basic essentials are scarce.
Nahed Hamouda, a 56-year-old ⁠father of ​four who has been displaced from Jabalia, north of Gaza City, ​said the tents were “like an oven”.
“There’s no electricity, no fan, no water, even the food is inedible,” he said, as he sat fanning himself ​with a piece of cardboard.