Everything around Gaza’s shoreline has been reduced to rubble by the Israeli military, but the coast still offers some fleeting solace from the horrors of ongoing death and destruction in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Local artists have been creating sand sculptures on the beach, gathering people on the shoreline that used to attract large crowds before the devastation of Israel’s genocidal war.
With severely limited resources, they have turned the beach into an open space for expression that also serves to provide the displaced Palestinians surviving in the area a chance to take a short break from the pressures of more than two years of war.
Palestinian sculptor Yazid Abu Jarad creates art on Gaza beach sand to escape Israel’s war [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
Yazid Abu Jarad and his team carve letters in the sand using tape measures, drawing a crowd, including children scarred by the relentless Israeli attacks, which have continued despite last month’s ceasefire with Hamas brokered by the United States and mediators.
“When we create art on Gaza’s beach, we see so many people gather around us. It brings joy – you can see it on the faces of children and even the elderly. People drift into a different world for a moment,” he told Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili.
“They look at the artwork and see an image completely different from what they’ve been used to since the war began – the bombings, destruction, and the buzzing of drones. Through our drawings, even a small picture can change how they feel.”
With no professional equipment left amid the widespread destruction of Gaza, the artists use anything they can find as tools – a small brush, a broken tile, a stick pulled from the shore.
But, like the coastline itself, their work is temporary.
Majd Ayada, another artist, told Al Jazeera that he and others are at the shore every day drawing from morning until night, even though the tides erase the work by evening.
“We come back the next day and start again. Art is our talent – we love sculpting and drawing on Gaza’s soil,” he said.
“And even after two years of war, we never give up.”
Other Palestinian families observe the artwork from nearby tents and flimsy plastic coverings, which they are forced to use as meagre protection against the winter cold after being repeatedly displaced by Israel.
Palestinian sculptors create art on Gaza beach sand to escape Israel’s war [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
Fathi Abu Maoud, a displaced father, said it makes his family happy to see the children and young people sculpting and creating images of Gaza, as it strengthens their attachment to the place even more.
“We were born here, our children were born here… This is our home. We’re rooted in Gaza,” he said.
Children run near art created by sculptors on Gaza beach sand to escape Israel’s war [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
