In a territory devastated by war, a handful of surfers in Gaza City are holding on to the sport that gives their lives meaning, allowing them to ride waves between airstrikes, clutching boards that cannot be replaced.

Only three or four surfers are still practicing in the Gaza Strip, according to Tahseen Abu Assi, one of the few who remains. The rest have given up, unable to maintain equipment that has been deteriorating for nearly two decades with no way to repair or replace it.

"Most of them left this sport because there are no boards and there's no equipment for these boards," Abu Assi said. "The board gets damaged and there's nothing to replace it, or parts, to repair these boards."

'There is fear'

No new surfboards have entered Gaza since 2007. During the war, Abu Assi has been displaced four or five times and each time, he took his board before he took anything else.

"I used to evacuate with it before I evacuated with my family, because it's the only one I have," he said. "If something happened to it, I won't be able to get another one."

He acknowledges there is constant fear but it has never been enough to keep him from the water.

"There is fear of course, but we can't leave this sport," he said. "During the war, in the middle of the bombing and the planes above us, we used to go down and practice this sport because this is something rare. The sea doesn't always get high, so as soon as the sea gets high, you leave your work and leave your whole life. Work can be caught up on, as they say, we go practice this sport."

Fellow surfer Khalil Abu Jiab spoke about the challenges and the difficulties that they face in the enclave.

"The materials that are used to make surfboards are not available in the Gaza Strip, so if we lose a surfboard or it breaks, we don't find a replacement for it," he said. "No one in the whole world cares about us."

Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 72,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, caused widespread destruction and displaced most of the territory's residents. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records but does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

A fragile ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025 though deadly strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce, with Hamas and Israel accusing each other of violations.