STORY: Tailors in Gaza resort to manual labor to operate sewing machines amid power shortage
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 25, 2023
DATELINE: Dec. 28, 2023
LENGTH: 0:01:45
LOCATION: RAFAH, Palestine
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of a Palestinian tailor in his workshop in Rafah
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): MOHAMMED ABU JAZAR, Palestinian tailor
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): SAMI ABU JAZAR, Palestinian child
4. various of general shots of Palestinians in public streets in Rafah
5. various of general shots inside a shoe-making shop in Rafah
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ABU IBRAHIM AL-HAMS, Palestinian shoemaker

STORYLINE:

Struggling with the continuing electricity shortage caused by the Hamas-Israel conflict, many tailors in the Gaza Strip have to use pedaled sewing machines powered by manual labor to make ends meet.

In a Rafah-based shabby tailor shop, Mohammed Abu Jazar attached his son's bicycle wheel to the pedaled sewing machine in a way to allow him to use power without electricity.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): MOHAMMED ABU JAZAR, Palestinian tailor
"I used this machine as an alternative to getting electricity, as I used my son's bicycle to meet the demands of customers, especially in the winter."

The soaring number of displaced Gazan residents has pushed up the demand for repairing old clothes and shoes to overcome the winter chill in light of the lack of a source of income to buy new ones.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): SAMI ABU JAZAR, Palestinian child
"We make clothes by using this machine to help displaced people who are suffering due to the winter."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ABU IBRAHIM AL-HAMS, Palestinian shoemaker
"There is no alternative but this. We are forced to repair shoes manually, especially since we lack goods and there are an increasing number of displaced people."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Rafah, Palestine.
(XHTV)