Ibrahim Naji al-Dabba, a 49-year-old father of seven and president of the Gaza Beekeepers' cooperative society, tends 35 surviving beehives on the roof of a damaged residential tower in Tel al-Hawa, Gaza City. Before the war he owned more than 400 hives across eastern Gaza and ran a business that included honey processing, queen-breeding and a four-wheel-drive vehicle to manage apiaries. Bombardment and repeated displacement destroyed his home, most of his equipment, storage facilities and more than 400 hives, which he estimates cost him over $350,000. With savings he bought three new hives for more than $3,000 and, working with his sons, expanded them into 35 colonies on the rooftop because moving hives and accessing agricultural areas is too dangerous. Honey output remains limited but every harvest represents income and an effort to preserve the life he lost, as he put it, beekeeping is his family's only source of income. Al-Dabba says essential supplies such as medicines, wax foundation, supplemental feed and equipment are scarce or prohibitively expensive, keeping recovery fragile and dependent on improved access and safety for Gaza's agricultural areas.
