Displaced Gazans sew winter clothes from blankets

By Ramadan Abed

As Gaza braces for a cold, wet winter, displaced Palestinians living in tents and makeshift shelters by the sea are sewing clothes from blankets in a desperate effort to stay warm.

Nidaa Attia, 31, and others measure, cut and sew the clothing in a tent near the beach at Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The work is entirely manual and labour intensive. Lacking electricity, they generate power by using the pedals of a bicycle connected by a belt to their sewing machine.

"Winter is coming for the second time (since the start of the war) and people are without any (warm) clothes," Attia said.

Nearby a young child stood on a table while another woman measured him for a jumper to protect him from the cold winter.

"There are no clothes coming into the Gaza Strip, so we thought a lot about how we could find a solution to the lack of fabrics, and we came up with the idea of recycling thermal blankets into winter clothes," Attia said.

Her "Needle and Thread" initiative, launched in September, relies mostly on volunteers, though some receive a small payment. The clothes are sold for between 70 and 120 shekels ($18-$30) but prices are lower for those who bring blankets.

A Gazan winter can be harsh, marked by cold temperatures and strong winds. Last year heavy rains flooded some shelters.

After more than a year of war, many in Gaza have no income. Some have tried to sell their possessions, including second-hand clothes, but few can afford the prices of even basic goods.

The amount of international aid entering Gaza has plummeted to its lowest level all year, according to U.N. data, while a global hunger monitor has also warned of a looming famine.

DISPLACED

Most of the roughly two million people in Gaza have been displaced by Israel's relentless assault on the coastal strip.

"We have been displaced for more than a year now. We lived through one winter and now winter is coming again," said Samira Tamous, who is originally from Gaza City in the north of the Strip but now lives in a makeshift shelter in Al-Mawasi.

"There are no winter clothes at all, not in the market and not to dress my daughter," said Tamous, whose 13-year-old child with Down syndrome was putting on clothing made under the "Needle and Thread" project.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza was triggered by an attack led by Hamas militants on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken as hostages back into the Palestinian enclave, according to Israeli officials.

The overall death toll in Gaza is approaching 43,000, according to the enclave's health ministry.