When streets become a workplace: Gaza workers convert tents into offices

Khan Younis, Gaza – Dr Mohammed al-Khalidi, a specializer successful prosthetics and orthotics, sits successful a humble structure successful al-Mawasi, confederate Gaza. It has been his spot of enactment since his session connected al-Bahr Street successful Rafah was destroyed by Israeli bombing successful April 2024. His 2nd and 3rd clinics successful Khan Younis’s Old City, confederate Gaza, were subsequently destroyed by Israel successful May 2025.

After this triple heartbreaking setback, al-Khalidi salvaged immoderate aesculapian instrumentality helium could find and moved into his caller office, a tent, wherever helium has received patients for the past 2 years.

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This transitory abstraction reflects a caller world successful Gaza since Israel’s genocidal warfare connected the enclave began successful October 2023. Offices, clinics and shops person been wiped retired successful waves of Israeli aerial raids implicit the past 3 years, leaving professionals to behaviour their enactment from tents oregon connected the road.

This improvement emerged successful December 2023 pursuing the displacement of Khan Younis residents to a constrictive portion of coastal onshore betwixt their hometown and Deir el-Balah.

After a ceasefire, repeatedly breached by Israel, was announced for the enclave successful October 2025, much of these structure offices, surgeries and shops emerged crossed Gaza arsenic professionals sought to proceed their practices.

Challenges

Working wrong these canvas confines presents aggregate challenges for al-Khalidi. There is constricted space, unreliable electricity, and the aggravated vigor and large noises to woody with.

The mounting bears small resemblance to his erstwhile signifier successful a bricks-and-mortar office, but helium inactive feels this statement is amended than suspending services altogether.

There is simply a monolithic request for prosthetics successful Gaza, wherever between 5,000 and 6,000 people person undergone amputations betwixt October 2023 and October 2025.

“Working from a impermanent abstraction is thing similar moving successful a afloat equipped clinic, but for me, it is amended than stopping the work altogether,” al-Khalidi told Al Jazeera.

“Patients who request prosthetic limbs oregon orthotic devices cannot ever hold until conditions instrumentality to normal. Some person mislaid a limb during the war, portion others request follow-up attraction oregon adjustments to devices they trust connected successful their regular lives.”

Dr Mohammed al-Khalidi, a specializer successful prosthetics and orthotics, continues to enactment from wrong a structure aft his backstage session was destroyed during the war, October 6, 2026 [Iyad Al-Qatrawi/Al Jazeera]

More than four-in-five buildings successful Gaza person been damaged oregon destroyed since Israel’s genocidal warfare began successful 2023, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), creating a existent property crisis.

The deficiency of bureau abstraction has seen rental prices scope unaffordable levels for astir Gaza professionals. But resilience, necessity, and work person encouraged Palestinians to find solutions to this situation. Tents are present wherever lawyers conscionable clients, doctors dainty patients, and traders merchantability their wares.

Repeated displacement

After Omar al-Tawashi, a civilian technologist and operation auditor, saw his bureau destroyed successful an Israeli aerial onslaught successful August 2024, helium began enactment from his location successful July 2025. But that excessively met the aforesaid fate, truthful helium shifted operations to a structure successful Deir el-Balah, cardinal Gaza, to proceed his work.

“My determination to a structure was not a nonrecreational choice. It was a nonstop effect of the demolition of the spot wherever I utilized to work, compounded by the rental crisis, which made uncovering an alternate bureau highly difficult,” helium said.

“In immoderate cases, rents person risen to much than 10 times their pre-war levels, making a caller bureau beyond my means”.

The structure is not a suitable situation for his engineering work, but determination is nary alternate for al-Tawashi.

“There is heat, acold and noise, and nary of the privateness needed erstwhile discussing projects oregon reviewing method files,” Omar said. “But stopping enactment would mean losing my root of income”.

In the crowded marketplace successful Nuseirat camp, cardinal Gaza, accountant Mahmoud Shaheen receives clients wrong a tiny structure amid the dependable of neighbouring vendors and passers-by.

Shaheen was erstwhile liable for a Gaza-based company’s accounts, but the bureau was destroyed successful an Israeli aerial onslaught successful November 2025.

“Moving to a structure was not truthful overmuch a nonrecreational prime arsenic a effect to a world imposed by the war,” helium told Al Jazeera.

With the commencement of the caller schoolhouse twelvemonth successful Gaza past month, tents person been pitched crossed the state arsenic substitutes for schools destroyed successful Israeli aerial raids oregon converted into refuges for the displaced.

School starts

Teacher Palestine Hussein has been forced to accommodate to this caller reality. She antecedently taught English astatine an acquisition centre successful Bureij successful cardinal Gaza, which she had spent years building.

It was destroyed successful seconds erstwhile an Israeli aerial raid destroyed the acquisition facility, truthful she present teaches children from a structure astatine al-Balata, a campy for displaced Palestinians successful Nuseirat.

Teacher Palestine Hussein is helping students from a structure successful Gaza, October 6, 2026 [Iyad Al-Qatrawi/Al Jazeera]

There is simply a deficiency of seats for the students, ventilation, oregon extortion from the sound and heat. But contempt these challenges, Hussein is determined to supply children successful the campy with immoderate signifier of education.

“Although the structure whitethorn look to beryllium a impermanent place, to maine it represents an effort to clasp connected to what remains of my assemblage and rebuild my imagination from scratch, adjacent with the astir basal resources,” Hussein told Al Jazeera.

New reality

Trader Khalil al-Tahrawi saw his covering store successful Nuseirat destroyed by Israeli bombing successful October 2023. After salvaging surviving merchandise from his destroyed shop, helium displayed his goods – mostly men’s T-shirts and jeans – astatine a tiny structure successful the Nuseirat market.

He pays $350 a period successful rent for the tiny spot of pavement to merchantability the clothing, which helium removes each nighttime to support them from thieves.

“This regular makes the enactment adjacent much hard and consumes my clip and energy,” al-Tahrawi told Al Jazeera.

Merchant Khalil Al-Tahrawi displays covering successful a tiny structure by the roadside successful the Nuseirat marketplace aft his store was destroyed during the war, October 6, 2026 [Iyad Al-Qatrawi/Al Jazeera]

Repeated powerfulness cuts, unreliable net and shortages of instrumentality person analyzable efforts by Gaza’s concern assemblage to rebuild during this play of a comparative alteration successful bombing.

Customers, too, are changing their depletion patterns, heading to definite towns oregon camps for a peculiar bully oregon service. Often what they find are prices much inflated than during Israel’s siege connected Gaza earlier Israel’s genocidal war.

One customer, Mohammed Zweid, a 24-year-old IT worker, looks done a marketplace successful Nuseirat. “Accessing professionals successful tents and impermanent spaces is amended than having nary work astatine all,” helium told Al Jazeera. “The translation has changed not lone wherever services are provided, but besides however they are experienced.”