Gaza and the Sea: Fishermen, Harbours and Seafood

Gaza is a Mediterranean city. Its strip of coast runs for about 40 kilometres, and for as long as people have lived there, the sea has fed families, drawn traders and given the city somewhere to breathe on hot evenings.

Men Hoodie | Palestine MapShop now

An ancient harbour

North of Gaza City lie the remains of Anthedon, the old harbour of Gaza, used from around the 8th century BC into the Byzantine period. Ships from here carried goods across the Mediterranean, and archaeologists have found walls, houses and pottery from many centuries of trade.

Fishing families

Fishing has been one of Gaza's oldest trades, often passed from father to son. Before the current war, several thousand fishermen worked from the harbour in Gaza City and from smaller landing beaches along the coast, in wooden rowing boats and larger motor boats. Access to the sea has been restricted for years, and the permitted fishing limits changed often, which made the work hard to plan.

Sardine season

Spring was traditionally the busiest time, when shoals of sardines moved along the coast. Some boats went out at night with bright lamps to draw the fish to the surface, and in the morning the fish market at the harbour filled with buyers, crates and ice.

Seafood from Gaza's kitchens

Gaza has its own seafood dishes. Sayyadiyeh is fish served on rice cooked with deeply browned onions and cumin. Zibdiyit gambari is prawns baked in a clay pot with tomatoes, garlic, chilli and dill. Both are usually eaten with daqqa, a sharp salad of crushed tomatoes, dill, green chilli and lemon.

The beach as a meeting place

On Fridays and summer evenings, families used to walk along the seafront, buy grilled corn from carts and sit by the water until late. For many Gazans in Britain, that stretch of beach is still what home looks like.

Our Palestine Map design shows the map of Palestine in warm sunset shades, from the coast to the hills, with the word Palestine beneath.