For more than four hours, Hajj Rabhi al-Fairi, 79, has been standing outside his home in Gaza City with his children and neighbours waiting their turn to use a small generator.
asserted
children → stand → generator
The generator’s owner pours in the fuel, starts a timer and switches on the machine.
asserted
owner → pour → machine
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strikes → ban → Gaza
Each family gets a few minutes to operate a pump that pushes water up to a storage tank on the roof, before the generator moves on to the next house.
asserted
generator → get → house
For al-Fairi and his neighbours, this is how they get water.
asserted
they → get → water
“We have an old water pump, but there is no electricity to run it.
asserted
We → have → it
We have to rent a generator,” al-Fairi tells Al Jazeera.
asserted
Fairi → have → Jazeera
Since the family returned to their home in October 2025, after fleeing a month earlier during Israel’s assault on their neighbourhood, the generator has become a familiar sight on the streets of Nassr.
asserted
generator → return → Nassr
When it arrives, residents gather around it, each carrying a jerrycan of diesel to operate the machine, which they have to pay for themselves.
“We came back and found the place a tragedy,” he says.
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he → arrive → themselves
Their neighbourhood and home were badly damaged from years of Israeli bombing, with no municipal electricity or water supplies functioning.
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electricity → damage → bombing
The family depends on an old pump – but without electricity, it cannot bring water up to the rooftop tank.
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it → depend → tank
Each family needs only about seven or eight minutes to fill up their tanks, but with the number of flats in their building, the generator needs to be rented for about an hour.
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generator → need → hour
The cost has also risen.
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cost → rise → ?
Al-Rabhi says families used to pay about 80 to 90 shekels ($26-30) to rent a generator for an hour.
asserted
families → say → hour
At different times, the price has risen to about 100 or 120 shekels ($33-40) an hour, excluding the cost of diesel.
asserted
price → rise → diesel
A generator on wheels
Khalil Abu Ouda, 39, takes a machine mounted on a horse-driven cart from one house to another.
asserted
Ouda → take → another
The generator’s metal body is covered in black soot and grease, and white smoke rises from the engine when it operates.
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it → cover → engine
At each house, Abu Ouda connects long electrical cables to the water pump.
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Ouda → connect → pump
The cables stretch across the street as neighbours gather around the machine to wait their turn.
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neighbours → stretch → turn
“Go on, switch it on,” someone calls.
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someone → go → it
He says there are very few small, mobile generators, like his, left in working condition in Gaza.
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He → say → Gaza
Many have broken down, while spare parts are difficult to find or too expensive to source due to Israel’s siege
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parts → break → ?
Mechanics are also expensive to hire, while fuel and engine oil are increasingly scarce and costly.
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fuel → hire → ?
“If I could, I would lower the price as much as possible,” he says.
uncertain
he → lower → price
“People are under pressure and they need water.
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they → need → water
If I stayed working until morning, I would keep working,” Abu Ouda says.
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Ouda → stay → morning
To cope with the demand, he often works for 10 to 12 hours a day, putting pressure on himself and the machine.
“But this is our livelihood.
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this → cope → himself
There is no alternative,” he said.
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he → be → ?
When the home stops providing
With most Palestinians in Gaza having no home or losing their possessions due to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, they have to rent or hire items or services for the most basic household chores.
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they → stop → chores
This includes washing clothes, something once done at home but now impossible to do with no power.
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This → include → power
Earlier in the war, Abeer Ghorab, 52, used to wash everything herself.
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Ghorab → use → everything
Now she gathers clothes from her tent and takes them to a nearby laundry, where they can be washed and dried in far less time and with less effort.
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they → gather → effort
“When these laundries started opening, they gave us some relief,” Ghorab said.
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Ghorab → start → relief
The difference is particularly important in winter, when heavy clothes, blankets and bedding can take time to dry.
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clothes → take → time
They need another day to dry,” she said.
asserted
she → need → day
“When I bring them here, they wash and dry them for me, and I get them back clean and dry.
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I → bring → them
That really helps.”
asserted
That → help → ?
But due to a limited income, Ghorab cannot afford to use this laundry service every day.
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Ghorab → afford → service
Before the war, Ghorab had a washing machine, a refrigerator and regular electricity at home.
asserted
Ghorab → have → home
“Things we once took for granted have become dreams.
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we → take → ?
…and 19 more, not listed.
