MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Gaza's Mediterranean coast once offered a rare sense of freedom, an open horizon in a place otherwise hemmed in by fences. With most of the population displaced from their homes and much of Gaza's infrastructure destroyed, the sea was a place to fish, wash and find some small respite from the conflict and the extreme summer temperatures. This month, the Israeli military banned all access to the sea. The warning tells Palestinians that entering the water could, quote, "endanger your lives" (ph). NPR's Ruth Sherlock and NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, have this report.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: After the Israeli military order this month, NPR's Anas Baba went to a beach close to Gaza City.
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: In front of me, there is two mothers that came to the beach with their own three children.
JAMILA BOUZEID: Jamila Bouzeid (ph).
SHERLOCK: Jamila Bouzeid is with her two boys and a girl, aged 10, 8 and 7. Baba asks her why they'd come.
BOUZEID: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: "My children don't have food at home," she says, "so I say, we'll take you to the sea." It's an attempt to distract from the hunger they all feel. She says the children beg her for food, but she can't give them.
BOUZEID: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: Israel has placed tight restrictions on the entry of food into Gaza, and now the quest to find something to eat has become dangerous and desperate. NPR's Baba describes the scene there.
BABA: In hospitals, there are adults collapsed from hunger and the small frames of malnourished children. One shocked American doctor working in Gaza said to me, everyone is skin and bones. The U.N. says the crisis is among the worst humanitarian disaster ever recorded, and starvation is truly spreading.
SHERLOCK: There's been an Israeli-imposed maritime blockade on Gaza since 2007 after Hamas took control, and those restrictions tightened further after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But stopping Palestinians from accessing the shoreline was rarely enforced. The Israeli military order this month banning access to the sea cited, quote, "security restrictions." NPR asked the Israeli military to explain the reasons in more detail, but it responded saying it has no further comment. In the past 21 months of conflict, many displaced Palestinians have been forced up against the coastline, says NPR's Baba.
BABA: Most of them, they lived literally on the beach shore facing the water, and nowadays, when you see them, that they are afraid even to step in the water.
SHERLOCK: According to the U.N., 80% of Gaza has either been designated an Israeli militarized zone or an evacuation zone. Intense Israeli bombardment has laid waste to population centers. With the infrastructure mostly destroyed, finding running water, even to wash in or to clean your clothes in, can be hard. In the crowded camps on the coast, people rely on the sea.
BABA: The families that living inside the tents, you see them sneaking like they are trying to find a way to wash themselves or to wash their own, like, dishes without being spotted by the Israelis.
SHERLOCK: It's not just the military's warning that's causing this fear. Last month, an Israeli strike hit a popular cafe on the coast.
BABA: One of the most iconic and famous cafes in old Gaza, which was sitting on the water, is called Al-Baqa Cafe. Thirty-one persons got killed there. After the airstrike for Al-Baqa Cafe, everything changed.
SHERLOCK: Access to the sea is even restricted for fishermen. Some have been shot and killed by the Israeli military, according to the U.N. But despite the risk, many still try. One fisherman told NPR if he doesn't fish, his family won't eat.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE)
SHERLOCK: Lifeguard Mohamed al Shrafi (ph) remembers a time when people would come to swim and relax.
MOHAMED AL SHRAFI: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: "The sea can't be banned," he says. "The sea is for everyone. God created it for all people, for them to come and enjoy themselves and let their kids play." Abouzeid (ph), the mother of three children who Baba met on the beach, hadn't seen the Israeli military warning not to enter the sea. So Baba tells her.
BOUZEID: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: "Now they even want to take the sea from us," she cries. "Let them take our souls, too. What's left?"
Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, with NPR's Anas Baba in Gaza City. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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