The Gaza Strip is beleaguered with constant conflict. In six years, Gaza has endured three wars with Israel, with the most recent war this summer.
Escaping the realities of conflict is never easy, but a group of Gazans have found a way to temporarily get away from the hardships of Gaza. The Gaza Surf Club, consisting of a small group of surfers, provides a small getaway in the waves of the Mediterranean, the Associated Press reports.
Even surfing, however, is becoming less of a getaway now that raw or partially treated sewage churns into the same waves the surfers ride.
The sewage in the Mediterranean steams from long-standing electricity shortages linked to a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, Associated Press reports. Rolling power cuts disrupt pumps handling sewage for the strip’s 1.8 million people. The power cuts intensified after this summer’s war, which the United Nations said killed around 2,200 Palestinians along with 72 on the Israeli side.
The Gazan surfers get their surfboards from world organizations that donate them, including Surfing 4 Peace, founded by American surfer Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, who died in November at age 93.
While surfing does not receive official support in Gaza, the surfers do not miss a chance to hit the waves.
