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Gaza -

Palestinian women in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, have invented a way to manufacture baby diapers locally, to confront the severe shortage and high prices of the small quantities available in the markets.

Maysaa Al-Qatti, the director of a small sewing workshop in Rafah, told Al-Jazeera Net, “We invented making these simple diapers by recycling medical protective clothing for the Corona pandemic, using parts of it, and adding fabric and medical cotton, to help mothers in light of the fact that ready-made diapers are running out of the market and the majority are unable to afford them.” Buy the few available ones at fantastic prices.

The Rafah Health Emergency Committee complains that a large percentage of the medical supplies that come through the Rafah crossing in humanitarian aid trucks are not a priority, including quantities of protective clothing and Corona vaccines.

The sewing workshop uses parts of the protective gown that was used by doctors and health sector workers to deal with people infected with Corona, and Maysaa and her colleagues reuse them as an alternative in the manufacture of (baby diapers).

Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, Israel has imposed strict restrictions on the humanitarian aid it allows to be supplied to the Gaza Strip, causing a scarcity of goods and goods from the markets, and a sharp rise in prices.

One piece of diapers manufactured by Maysaa and her colleagues in the local workshop is sold for only two shekels ($0.55) to the consumer, while the price of a ready-made piece has reached more than 5 shekels, depending on the quality and size (about $1.5).

She says that there is a great demand for local diapers, which have proven their quality as an emergency alternative to ready-made diapers, at reasonable prices, but they cannot meet the overall need of the local market, due to the small capacity of the operator, the lack of raw materials, the power outage, and the use of a small generator to operate the sewing machines.

This workshop employs 15 workers, the majority of whom are women and displaced people from Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, who were forced by the harsh living conditions to work in order to support their families.

Among them is Menna Al-Sayed, a displaced person from the northern Gaza Strip. She found working in the workshop an appropriate opportunity to earn some money in order to provide some of her family’s basic needs. She told Al Jazeera Net, "Life is difficult and requires work under the harsh conditions caused by the war."

Her colleague Noha Yassin works near her, a widow suffering from cancer. She supports her family and was forced to flee from Gaza City to the city of Khan Yunis before she was forced to flee again to the city of Rafah, due to the Israeli ground incursion.

Noha tells Al Jazeera Net that she is happy to work with this operator to manufacture baby diapers, and to provide them in the markets at reasonable prices, in light of the inability of the people to buy ready-made diapers, the prices of which have risen significantly.

Source: Al Jazeera