Jumana Emad - Palestine

Flocks of fish travel between colorful rocks, blue waters and golden sands pleasing viewers.These scenery is not in the depths of the Red Sea or the famous Asian islands, but from the depths of the Gaza Strip the narrowest spot on the globe.

Although the Gaza Strip is a 40-kilometer-long coastal strip and its inhabitants are coastal, they have not seen the beautiful scenes hidden beneath the sea, so Palestinian photographer Mohammed Muheisen decided to dive and take live photos of the beauty of his city's sea during his weekly trip in the autumn.

Mohammed Asaad Muheisen after the completion of the diving trip (Al Jazeera)

Inner beauty
Mohammed Asaad Muheisen (35 years) has been working in the field of photojournalism for the past 12 years, documenting the three wars launched in the Gaza Strip, conveying through his lens the pain and hopes of the Palestinians, and won 10 international Arab awards in the field of photojournalism, but he wanted to show the inner beauty For the city, which no one knew, he began to film the seas and capture clips showing the other side of life in the besieged city away from crises and wars.

Muheisen says to Al Jazeera Net, "I started the idea of ​​filming the deep sea through my travels and friction with the group of riders and sailboats, then I started using boats and entering or swimming for hundreds of meters, and then things developed during the previous three years after receiving the" Camera Jober "award for underwater photography, This is a prize I have received from the OCHA at the United Nations. "

"I wanted to go deeper, and I started documenting the activities of underwater fishermen in their various fishing methods, to accompany the divers who are hunting the sea pistol, a known fishing method in the world where divers compete at different depths and the ability to breathe longer, and found underwater a lot of rocks and beautiful scenes, I saw the permanent fish coming to the shore of Gaza, some of which are seasonal migrants passing through the shore. "

Secrets and beauty in the depths of the Gaza Sea documented by photographer Mohammed Muheisen (Al Jazeera)

Culture of consumption
Muheisen explains that the majority of people in the Gaza Strip follow the culture of consumption and deal with fish as they are in the market or on a dish, and they do not know anything about how to move in the water and sleep among the rocks, despite the presence of the Gaza Strip on the coastline.

It is noteworthy that the secrets of the sea are known only by some fishermen who use water glasses during their work, pointing out that the transfer of the picture from the depths of the sea for the first time professionally is a rare event for photographers of the sector, who are busy covering political events and rapid field events.

Muheisen said that the Gaza Sea suffers from a worsening problem.All the year is contaminated by the sewage crisis, which prevents the acquisition of good images.He said that he waits for the fluctuation of climate and northern winds with the start of the autumn season, which brings clean water and transports pollution south.

A rare fish in the depths of the Gaza Sea discovered by the lens of Mohammed Muheisen (Al Jazeera)

Challenges
Muheisen reports that diving equipment is usually not available, and that he uses only fins, glasses and a Gober camera, while diving is free and self-reliant and without external respirators.

He confirms that the image he takes is modest due to the lack of large water cameras and his lack of diving suit and oxygen, indicating that the exit images of the Gaza Sea is better than nothing.

Muheisen is currently working on the production of a film about sea pistol fishing and how it works and what they suffer from the shortage and different fishing methods at night and day and the different types of fish they catch.

The amateur photographer hopes to further develop his abilities and undergo training courses to get longer breath and deeper distances so that he can achieve greater achievements in underwater photography and provide better images and videos on the marine environment in the Gaza Strip.