Desperate for cash, Gazans sell clothes plucked from rubble

Moein Abu Odeh clambers up a pile of rubble in southern Gaza, searching for clothes, shoes, anything he can sell to raise cash more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the terror group’s brutal October 2, 2023, attack.

The father of four delves under blocks and brushed away piles of concrete dust at the site of one airstrike in the southern city of Khan Younis. His plan was to sell what he found to buy flour.

“If food and drink were available, believe me, I would give (these clothes) to charity,” he says. “But the struggles we are going through (mean we) have to sell our clothes to eat and drink.”

Widespread shortages have generated a trade in old clothing, much of it salvaged from the homes of people who have died in the conflict.

At one makeshift market, shoes, shirts, sweaters and sneakers are laid out on dusty blankets.

A girl tries on a single worn-out boot, which could come in handy this winter if she can afford it in Gaza’s ruined economy.

A trader gets an edge on his competitors by shouting out that his wares were European.

One man laughs as he got a young boy to try on a green jacket.

“We get clothing from a man whose house was destroyed. He was digging in the concrete to get some (clothing) and we buy them like this and sell them at a good price,” displaced Palestinian Louay Abdel-Rahman says.

He and his family have arrived in the city from another part of Gaza with only the clothes they were wearing. So he also keeps some back for them. “The seasons have changed from summer to winter and we need clothing,” he says.

“All our children only have short-sleeve clothing and nobody is helping them,” Saeed Doula, a father of seven, says. “The war is all-encompassing.”