In the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, amidst a landscape of pulverized concrete and skeletal residential towers, Ibrahim Naji al-Dabba is fighting to preserve a fragment of his life’s work. Once the steward of 400 beehives, al-Dabba now manages just 35 colonies, relocated to the roof of a damaged building. His struggle represents more than a personal attempt to salvage a business; it is a precarious effort to maintain biological continuity and agricultural heritage in a region where the physical and institutional infrastructure of civilian life has largely collapsed.
The current state of al-Dabba’s operation is a stark contrast to the scale of his previous enterprise. For years, he operated a robust beekeeping business that contributed to the local honey production and supported the regional ecosystem. Today, his remaining hives sit atop a residential tower characterized by shattered concrete and severe structural damage. The rooftop, once a site of domestic life, has been repurposed into a survivalist apiary.
The loss of 365 hives—over 90% of his previous capacity—was not the only blow to al-Dabba’s livelihood. He has lost his primary residence and the specialized equipment necessary for large-scale honey extraction and processing. The destruction of these facilities means that the act of beekeeping has shifted from a commercial venture to a daily exercise in resilience. Despite the absence of a home and the ruins surrounding his remaining bees, al-Dabba continues to provide the necessary care to ensure the colonies survive the volatility of the ongoing conflict.
The significance of al-Dabba’s persistence extends beyond the production of honey. Bees play a critical role in pollination, and the widespread loss of apiaries across Gaza threatens the long-term viability of the remaining urban and peri-urban vegetation. In an environment where food security is critical and traditional farmland is often inaccessible or destroyed, the survival of pollinator populations is a prerequisite for any future agricultural recovery.
Furthermore, the transition of these hives to a rooftop signifies a forced adaptation. As traditional land-based apiaries were targeted or rendered unusable by military operations and structural collapse, the only remaining “safe” spaces became the heights of damaged buildings. This shift reflects a broader pattern of survivalist urban farming emerging in Gaza, where civilians attempt to utilize the ruins of their cities to sustain basic biological assets.
Analysis:
The trajectory of Ibrahim Naji al-Dabba’s operation serves as a microcosm for the systemic collapse of artisanal and agricultural livelihoods in the Gaza Strip. The reduction from 400 to 35 hives is not merely a loss of inventory, but a loss of economic scale and institutional knowledge. When a specialized producer is stripped of their infrastructure—homes, processing plants, and land—the ability to restart is not as simple as acquiring new equipment; it requires the survival of the biological stock itself.
The reliance on a damaged residential tower for hive placement highlights the extreme instability of the current environment. By moving his operation to a rooftop, al-Dabba is operating in a space that is structurally compromised and exposed. This suggests that for many in Gaza, the threshold for “acceptable risk” has shifted entirely. The act of maintaining these bees is an assertion of continuity against a backdrop of total erasure.
From an economic perspective, the shift from a commercial-scale operation to a survivalist one indicates a transition toward a “shadow economy” of subsistence. The loss of the honey industry’s infrastructure means that even if the bees survive, the capacity to bring products to market in a standardized, hygienic, and scalable way has been severed. The struggle is no longer about profit, but about preventing the total extinction of a professional practice.
The broader context of this loss is situated within the widespread destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. Tel al-Hawa, where al-Dabba operates, has seen significant damage to its residential and commercial sectors. The destruction of homes and businesses often removes the “buffer” that allows small business owners to weather crises. Without a home or a secure warehouse, the beekeeper is as displaced as the population he lives among, making the daily maintenance of the hives an act of psychological as well as physical endurance.
Looking forward, the viability of al-Dabba’s remaining 35 hives depends on several volatile factors. The availability of forage—the flowers and plants the bees need for nectar—is increasingly limited as urban greenery is destroyed or covered in debris. Additionally, the structural integrity of the tower hosting the hives remains a concern; further damage to the building could result in the total loss of the remaining colonies.
The recovery of Gaza’s agricultural sector will likely depend on individuals like al-Dabba who have managed to preserve “seed” populations of livestock and pollinators. If these remaining colonies can be scaled back up, they may provide the biological foundation for the return of beekeeping in the region. However, this will require not only the survival of the bees but the restoration of the legal and physical infrastructure that allows for the movement of goods and the protection of property.
Ultimately, the story of the Gaza beekeeper is one of extreme attrition. The gap between 400 hives and 35 is a measurement of the conflict’s impact on the non-combatant economy. While the survival of these few colonies is a testament to individual willpower, it also underscores the fragility of civilian life when the structures of stability—home, land, and industry—are removed. Al-Dabba’s refusal to let his life’s work end is a small-scale defiance against a landscape of total loss, ensuring that when the time for reconstruction arrives, something of the old world still breathes.
Sources:
Guardian International (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jul/29/gaza-beekeeper-refusing-to-let-war-end-lifes-work)
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Story synopsis gathered from: Guardian International — source
