In Salah al-Din road north of Gaza a firewood vendor sits lonely in the freezing weather after people stopped buying firewood to use for heating purposes.
The Gaza Strip is currently suffering from constant fuel crises due to the Israeli siege imposed since 2006. The crisis reached its climax after bombing the only power plant and closing the border crossing between Egypt and Rafah.
Abu Hasan uses dry wooden sticks to make fire and boil coffee while indicating that he worked for years in cutting and selling firewood to all parts of the Gaza Strip.
“My line of work is not seasonal as I receive customers in every month of the year. I organize the firewood according to its quality as I have eucalyptus and olive timber 3-8 Israeli agoras per kilo. However orange timber is considered the finest in which its ton costs 1200-1300 NIS” he added.
Abu Hasan had rented a piece of land 400 square meters where he stored 10 tons of various firewood types in which he owns the third and the rest of property belongs to one of his relatives.
“As you see they wanted to buy firewood at half price despite the fact that firewood is scarce due to the delay of the rainy season especially that the good quantities are in limited markets” he commented on some customers who wanted to buy 150 kilos of firewood but left empty-handed.
“I regret the long years I spent cutting firewood in Beersheba Golan Heights and Carmel where there is availability quality and customers who appreciate the profession” he continued.
Abu Hasan has a long experience in working with chainsaws both gasoline and diesel in addition to knowledge of all kinds of firewood people use for heating purposes.
The Gaza Strip suffers from a severe crisis due to the siege imposed by Israel 10 years ago which drove Gazans to seek alternative power sources for heating including firewood.
