The Miami Herald · Miami, Florida · 19 August 2010
CP-2010-007
SLIM PICKINGS
SCAVENGERS COLLECT RUBBLE AT GAZA’S BOMBED AIRPORT
By Ibrahim Barzak, The Associated Press, Rafah, Gaza Strip
Transcribed from the clipping
“RAFAH, Gaza Strip—Scores of men swinging hammers and pickaxes attack the runway and terminal of Gaza’s bombed-out airport before dawn every day, scavenging gravel and metal bars to resell as construction material.
The looting of the Gaza International Airport—once hailed as a step toward Palestinian statehood but destroyed during years of fighting with Israel—reflects the dire situation in the impoverished territory, where a three-year blockade has made jobs scarce and kept out badly needed building supplies.
The scavengers who come daily, working long hours to take home as little as $15 a day, say they can’t find other jobs. ‘I have no work but to spend my day under the sun trying to feed my children,’ said Hilmi Izawied, 34, taking a break from work on Monday.
Despite the 98-degree Fahrenheit heat, about 120 men worked in the area Monday, some digging up gravel, others hammering on what were once terminal walls to remove bars. Many refrained from food or drink in observance of the dawn-to-dusk fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last week.
Izawied and four friends had been there since 3 a.m., he said, pulling up heavy slabs of runway asphalt, digging up the gravel below and filtering it into large sacks.”
Context added by this archive
An airport built as a step toward statehood, being carried away by hand as gravel.
Cite this clipping
"SLIM PICKINGS," The Miami Herald, 19 August 2010, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2010-007. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2010-007
More from The Miami Herald
- Irgun Takes Arab City In Night BattleThe Miami Herald · 5 May 1948
- Arabs Learn ABCs With the Hatred Left OutThe Miami Herald · 7 September 1967
- Debate Rages on Arab Refugee ProblemThe Miami Herald · 7 October 1967
- Downing Airliner Also TerrorismThe Miami Herald · 14 March 1973
- Buildings Burn and Corpses Rot In What Remains of Tal ZaatarThe Miami Herald · 14 August 1976
- The PalestiniansThe Miami Herald · 29 May 1977
- 18 more from this paper in the full text →
More from the 2010s
- Laugh or cry?Chicago Jewish Star · 29 January 2010
- My View: Kathy Christison repliesThe Santa Fe New Mexican · 21 February 2010
- Palestinians, Israelis talks to begin soonCorpus Christi Caller Times · 10 May 2010
- Q&A: 80% of the private landLos Angeles Times · 23 May 2010
- Israel reopens W. Bank highway to PalestiniansThe Baltimore Sun · 30 May 2010
- Israelis intercept Gaza relief fleetThe Sacramento Bee · 31 May 2010
- All 321 clippings from the 2010s →
Last updated 2 November 2026
This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1724 to 2023. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.
The clipping belongs to the newspaper that printed it, or to the news agency that supplied the copy. It is reproduced here for research, criticism and commentary. A city here is where the newspaper was published, not where the story came from, and on most records it was taken from the masthead.
Something wrong here, or something you know about this clipping? The archive is still being built and corrections are wanted: maria@rozumstudio.com, quoting CP-2010-007.
Everything printed in 2010 · Printed on this day · See it in the archive reel · Full text of every clipping · Dataset