Left with nothing, people in Gaza are forced to rent generators by the hour

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkKhalil Abu Ouda fills a fuel tank for his generator [Getty Images]By Maram HumaidPublished On 12 Sep 202612 Sep 2026Gaza City, Gaza Strip – 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.The generator’s owner pours in the fuel, starts a timer and switches on the machine.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4UK bans goods from Israeli West Bank settlements: What that really meanslist 2 of 4Shift in British policy on Israel is palpablelist 3 of 4Israeli academia accused of systemic apartheid against Palestinianslist 4 of 4Israeli strikes devastate homes, displace families across Gazaend of listEach 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.For al-Fairi and his neighbours, this is how they get water.“We have an old water pump, but there is no electricity to run it. We have to rent a generator,” al-Fairi tells Al 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.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.Their neighbourhood and home were badly damaged from years of Israeli bombing, with no municipal electricity or water supplies functioning. The family depends on an old pump – but without electricity, it cannot bring water up to the rooftop 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.The cost has also risen. Al-Rabhi says families used to pay about 80 to 90 shekels ($26-30) to rent a generator for an hour. At different times, the price has risen to about 100 or 120 shekels ($33-40) an hour, excluding the cost of diesel.A generator passes through a northern Gaza neighbourhood [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]A generator on wheelsKhalil Abu Ouda, 39, takes a machine mounted on a horse-driven cart from one house to another. The generator’s metal body is covered in black soot and grease, and white smoke rises from the engine when it operates.At each house, Abu Ouda connects long electrical cables to the water pump. The cables stretch across the street as neighbours gather around the machine to wait their turn.“Go on, switch it on,” someone calls.For Abu Ouda, this machine is both a service for the neighbourhood and an essential source of income for his family.He says there are very few small, mobile generators, like his, left in working condition in Gaza. Many have broken down, while spare parts are difficult to find or too expensive to source due to Israel’s siege.Mechanics are also expensive to hire, while fuel and engine oil are increasingly scarce and costly.“If I could, I would lower the price as much as possible,” he says.At the same time, demand has never been higher.“People are under pressure and they need water. If I stayed working until morning, I would keep working,” Abu Ouda says. 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. There is no alternative,” he said.When the home stops providingWith 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.This includes washing clothes, something once done at home but now impossible to do with no power.Earlier in the war, Abeer Ghorab, 52, used to wash everything herself. 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.“When these laundries started opening, they gave us some relief,” Ghorab said.The difference is particularly important in winter, when heavy clothes, blankets and bedding can take time to dry.“In winter, the tracksuits are heavy. They need another day to dry,” she said. “When I bring them here, they wash and dry them for me, and I get them back clean and dry. That really helps.”Abeer Ghorab, 52, a displaced Palestinian woman, takes her clothes to a commercial laundry, paying to wash and dry them as water and electricity remain scarce [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]But due to a limited income, Ghorab cannot afford to use this laundry service every day.Before the war, Ghorab had a washing machine, a refrigerator and regular electricity at home.“Things we once took for granted have become dreams. Now we have to pay for every little thing we used to do at home.”The loss of the householdAcross Gaza, the infrastructure that once allowed families to carry out everyday tasks at home has been severely disrupted.A recent United Nations assessment found that 91 percent of surveyed households experienced moderate-to-high water shortages in early August.A separate damage assessment by the authority found that 107,941 of the 178,632 housing units inspected – about 60 percent – were severely damaged, destroyed or otherwise considered uninhabitable.Water systems, electricity, sanitation and household appliances, which families relied on to manage daily life, have also been disrupted.For families living in damaged homes, tents or makeshift shelters, everyday tasks must be paid for.A laundry adapting to shortagesFadi Abu Shawarb, 23, has worked at his family’s al-Hurriya laundry for six years.Residents now rely on communal washing machines for cleaning clothes [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]Before the war, the business relied on large, 50kg (110lb) washing machines for carpets, blankets and other heavy loads. But due to the high cost of operation, these machines are far too expensive to run.“We started replacing the 50kg machines with 25kg ones because there is not enough electricity,” Fadi says. “There are no solar panels, no reliable power, and the generators are always breaking down.”Most of his customers are displaced families who lack electricity, water or washing machines at home.The laundry now handles about 20 to 30 loads a day, with clothes-washing among the most in-demand services.A load costs six shekels ($2) when the laundry can use solar power and 12 shekels ($4) when it relies on a generator.But even that is hard for people to pay. “People’s situation is difficult,” he says.For Ghorab, the laundry is only one of the many expenses she now has to budget for.“I feel like I’m going through a difficult time,” she says. “I have to pay for every little thing in my day, and with how difficult things are, it’s hard to keep up with everything.”