Social media is full of posts showing photos and videos of attractive-looking cafes and restaurants in Gaza. Pro-Israel accounts often use these images to claim that life in Gaza has returned to normal, people are not suffering and no genocide ever occurred.
These cafes and restaurants are present. I have seen them myself.
At the end of March, I made my first visit to Gaza City since the war began. I was shocked to see the destruction caused to the city. There were heaps of debris at every corner. Unable to recognize the roads, I felt as if I was wandering in a maze. I soon reached a nearby area that surprised me even more. It was full of new cafés that had not existed before the war.
These were not temporary or transitory places as one might expect; They were built of expensive materials, carefully painted, furnished with tables, sofas and beautiful chairs, with glass fronts and brightly lit lights. A feeling of luxury emanated from them. They looked so strange amid the debris and half-collapsed buildings that it seemed almost unreal to see them.
These new establishments do not prove that normalcy is returning to Gaza. They are evidence of its continuing genocidal abnormality.
The war made some people in Gaza wealthy, especially those who engaged in illegal activities such as smuggling, looting and hoarding during a time of severe shortages. The property is now springing up in various forms including luxury cafes and restaurants.
In parallel, much of Gaza’s population has been pushed into extreme poverty. Whereas before the war, the average person could afford to sit in a café and have a drink and a bite to eat, today this is no longer the case.
Most people can’t even see these new places, let alone enter them and order something. The majority of Gaza’s population lives in tents, has no electricity or potable water and suffers from loss of livelihoods. They are surviving on the little assistance provided by Israel.
I am one of them. My family and I live in a tent near the debris of our home in Nusirat camp. We have lost our family livelihood. The comfortable life we ​​used to have is now just a distant memory.
The expensive new establishments reflect the deeply unjust social system that has emerged in Gaza – where war profiteering has raised a new privileged class and left the vast majority in misery without access to proper education, health care and even food. The genocide did not just kill and maim people and destroy homes and schools; This ended the possibility of a normal life for most people in Gaza.
I couldn’t afford fancy cafés, so I continued down the street until I reached a more simple restaurant, where I used to go with friends before the war. Entering it felt like going back to the days before the war; The place was the same, there were the same chairs and tables, and there was the same familiar smell that pervaded the place.
I sat and observed, remembering fond memories of spending time there after university lectures. I ordered the same thing I ordered before: a chicken wrap, a soda, and a small salad plate. The bill was 60 shekels ($20) – more than three times what I paid before the war, when my family actually had a normal income.
The restaurant bill, combined with the fare I paid for a shared ride to Gaza City (15 shekels or $5 one way), cost me a fortune. I felt guilty spending all this money just to get some semblance of normalcy.
Those few who are lucky enough to be able to visit cafes and restaurants in Gaza can enjoy small moments of respite, a temporary escape from the horrors of reality. Yet these moments are limited, often accompanied by the anxiety of returning to destroyed streets, bombed landscapes, and trauma.
As I sat in al-Taboun, I thought about the friends I used to spend time with: Ram, who was martyred, and Raanan, who fled to Belgium. I sat there alone, holding these memories amid the grayness of Gaza’s debris and the light of a generator-powered café.
The genocide has devastated everyone – even those who have profited from it. No amount of time spent in flashy cafes and restaurants will ever erase this reality.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
