Gaza’s Displaced Children Turn to Street Vending to Help with Living Costs
(AWP) - After leaving their classrooms and being displaced from their home with their families, many of the Gaza Strip’s children have turned to street vending, among many other jobs, to earn a living and help their families survive as the Israeli war on the Strip enters its sixth month.
Mohamed Issa al-Shawwaf, a 13-year-old displaced Palestinian boy, is one of the children selling products on Rafah’s streets to help make ends meet.
He said, “I sell things from this stall owned by someone else so I can help my brother and father. My 75-year-old father cannot work. I’ve done various jobs; selling goods, breaking rubble, and collecting pieces of wood from the bombed houses because we can’t afford wood to use for cooking. The situation is very difficult and the high prices are unimaginable.”
Issa al-Shawwaf, the child’s father, said he sends his son to work on jobs such as selling bread or other goods and collecting wood from bombed houses to sell and make money.
He noted, “Of course, I am afraid for him in all of this. He is a child and could get used to being here and there on the streets all the time.”
Another displaced child in Rafah, Mahmoud al-Jarjir, was selling potato chips to children to contribute money towards his large family’s expenses.
“I sell potato chips to help support my family. I had many jobs but the problem is that everything is so expensive. Children’s things are expensive. I have eight people in my family. We can’t continue living in these tough conditions.”
International organizations report that the vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s population, estimated to be 2.3 million Palestinians, are living under dire conditions since the Israeli war broke out in the enclave on October 7.