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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Bethan McKernan and Hazem Balousha in Gaza City

‘The sea is more blue’: Gazans head to the beach after sewage cleanup

Gaza Pollution
Thousands of Gaza Strip residents head to the beach after pollution prevention measures.
Thousands of Gaza Strip residents head to the beach after pollution prevention measures. Photograph: Loay Ayyoub/The Guardian

On the beach in Sheikh Ijlin, a neighbourhood in the south of Gaza City, no one is paying attention to a nearby Islamic Jihad military drill. Children run in and out of the Mediterranean waves, begging their parents for camel rides and candy floss, ignoring the thuds as rockets belonging to the Palestinian militant group hit the water.

Thanks to a dedicated sewage cleanup effort, for the first time in years most of the Gaza Strip’s coastline is clean enough to swim in. This summer, thousands of families are rediscovering the besieged territory’s foremost recreational outlet.

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