Tired of tents, Gaza men build mud-brick shelters inspired by ancestors.

SHOTLIST GAZA STRIP, PALESTINE (JUNE 27, 2026) 1. VARIOUS OF KHALIL ABU RAMADAN AND JAFAR ATALLAH DIGGING AND CARRYING CLAY 2. VARIOUS OF ABU RAMADAN AND ATALLAH MAKING BRICKS FOR ADOBE HOUSE 3. VARIOUS OF ABU RAMADAN FILLING BASIN WITH WET CLAY AND CARRYING IT TO MUD-BRICK HOUSE 4. VARIOUS OF ATALLAH BUILDING WALL OF DOMED MUD-BRICK HOUSE USING CLAY BRICKS AND MUD PLASTER 5. ABU RAMADAN PLACING CAR TIRE IN WINDOW OPENING OF MUD-BRICK HOUSE 6. ABU RAMADAN INSIDE ADOBE HOUSE, PLACING BRICKS ON GROUND 7. VARIOUS OF ABU RAMADAN AND ATALLAH PLASTERING EXTERIOR OF MUD-BRICK HOUSE WITH MUD 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR KHALIL ABU RAMADAN, SAYING: “We were displaced around 26 times, maybe 26 times, from the beginning of the war until now. We settled in the place where we are currently staying, in Maghazi, and we lived in tents.” 9. WHITE FLASH 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR KHALIL ABU RAMADAN, SAYING: “Summer came and winter came, and we do not know how to deal with the tents. They are just pieces of plastic in Maghazi; they fly away, rainwater leaks onto us, and a person does not know what to do. There are also stray bullets, since we are close to the yellow line. This tent sheet does not protect us from stray bullets.” 11. WHITE FLASH 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR KHALIL ABU RAMADAN, SAYING: “I was inspired by the idea because I am a content creator, and I started searching on social media and websites to see how our ancestors used to deal with these matters in the past, since there were no buildings or such things, and life was primitive.” 13. WHITE FLASH 14. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR KHALIL ABU RAMADAN, SAYING: “So they used to resort to making mud, plastering with clay, and things like that. I liked the idea and said: ‘I want to build a mud room.’ Of course, a mud room needs resources, because clay is not free either. As for me, I can make simple things from the clay that is available on the ground where we are staying, but we are on land that does not belong to us, so we do not have the right to use this clay and build something large like that with it.” 15. WHITE FLASH 16. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR KHALIL ABU RAMADAN, SAYING: “Then I remembered that I had a friend named Jafar Atallah, so I presented the idea to him. I told him, ‘My friend, what do you think if we build a mud room? It would protect us from stray bullets, keep us cool in the summer, and keep us warm in the winter.’ He liked the idea. He liked it and told me, ‘I have clay,’ because they used to work in pottery before the war.” 17. WHITE FLASH 18. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR KHALIL ABU RAMADAN, SAYING: “The severity of the suffering we are living through in Gaza made me want to revive the heritage of our ancestors, who used to do this nearly 150 years ago. We liked this idea and carried it out. Despite the pain and despite the bitter hardship we are living through, we are making the impossible possible. From within the impossible, we create the impossible. Nothing can stand in our way. Whatever we can shape and turn into something livable, we do it. In a place of destruction, we are able to reshape our place and make it suitable for life.” 19. WHITE FLASH 20. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATOR KHALIL RAMADAN, SAYING: “My message to the world is to look at us with compassion. We are also sending a message that we are steadfast on our land and that we will not leave it to this enemy and oppressor. We have remained, and we are still remaining, on our land, and we will live and die on it.” 21. ABU RAMADAN AND ATALLAH PLASTERING EXTERIOR OF MUD-BRICK HOUSE WITH MUD 22. ABU RAMADAN PLASTERING DOME BY SPREADING MUD PLASTER WITH HIS HAND 23. CLOSE-UP OF ABU RAMADAN’S HANDS COVERED WITH MUD 24. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) POTTER JAFAR ATALLAH, SAYING: “Today, we can do without a house or a home, but a clay room is better than living in tents, where we have remained for more than three years. A tent is not suitable for living. You can stay in it for a year, maybe two, but you cannot live in a tent for three years. So we decided to do this and build a clay room. We wanted to make the room, film it, and publicize it widely so that people would know what it means to live in clay, and to remind them of our ancestors — how they used to build with clay in the past and how they used to live. We built this room as a representation of our old Palestinian heritage.” 25. VARIOUS OF ABU RAMADAN PLASTERING WINDOW 26. INTERIOR OF UNFINISHED ADOBE HOUSE 27. VARIOUS OF ABU RAMADAN WORKING ON WALL OF MUD HOUSE GAZA STRIP, PALESTINE - JUNE 27: Two young Palestinian men in the besieged Gaza Strip are reviving a centuries-old building tradition to escape the harsh conditions of tent life, constructing a traditional adobe domed house as an alterna