
In a Gaza workshop, a group of men patch up pleasure dinghies with reclaimed fibreglass, wood and door frames pulled from the rubble, racing to get the boats ready for a tougher line of work. The small vessels, which were used by families and swimmers before the war, have become a lifeline for the enclave’s fishing industry which has been struggling to keep up its fleet. Israeli restrictions on new fibreglass and other materials entering Gaza have made it increasingly difficult and expensive to repair the larger, purpose-built boats, fishermen said. Palestinian workers repair a skiff damaged in the Israeli offensive, in Gaza City on June 3, 2026. —Reuters “A kilo of fibreglass in the era before the war was 50 or 60 shekels,” fisherman Mohammad al-Hissi told Reuters. The cost today was around 800 shekels, he added. Total catch has plummeted, say fishermen COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza, told Reuters the bans cover items that could have a military as well as a civilian use. It d...