Gaza workshop repairs water tanks hit by bullets, bombs

Deir el Balah, Gaza Strip: As the summer heat beats down on war torn Gaza, Muhammad Bashir s skills are in high demand: he repairs rooftop water tanks...

Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip: As the summer heat beats down on war-torn Gaza, Muhammad Bashir's skills are in high demand: he repairs rooftop water tanks that have been perforated by shrapnel and bullets.

Some of the leaky tanks in his workshop look like sieves.

"Before the war... we used to fix only one or two water tanks every month, but now we get dozens due to the occupation bombing of homes," he told AFP.

Tawfiq Ramadan, another repairman, said "there are no tanks available on the market, new or used ones. Since no one can do without water, people are bringing us the tanks to repair them."

Gaza's rooftops have long been studded with large plastic tanks that supply homes below with gravity-fed water and provide a valuable buffer for times when the mains are down.