Along the Mediterranean Coast :: Recycling rock and concrete from demolished buildings :: December 2010

Photos by Skip Schiel & Teeksa Photography—teeksaphoto.org

After Israel severely or totally destroyed nearly 3,000 buildings, industrial, commercial and residential during the assault of Operation Cast Lead for 23 days beginning on December 27, 2008, and because of the ongoing siege since 2006 when Israel responded to the electoral victory of Hamas by sealing the borders, Israel has prevented most building materials from entering Gaza. Thus the need for innovation. Young boys and others collect shattered concrete from demolished buildings, transport them to collecting sites, often by way of donkey drawn carts, where young men pulverize the materials into useable construction aggregate or gravel. The binder, cement, hard to procure, comes mostly thru the tunnels from Egypt.