Israeli-besieged Gaza residents turn plastic waste to fuel

Over a fire fed by scraps of wood, Bilal Abuassi heats a large metal barrel filled with shredded plastic waste that is eventually converted into fuel.

Amid the ongoing Israeli war and strict blockade, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have improvised a new method to produce fuel used to power transportation and generators.

“We collect plastic materials, including barrels, plates, toys, and household items,” Abuassi told Middle East Eye.

“Some of these are gathered from waste and the streets, and sometimes from bombed homes, where we find damaged water barrels and plastic fragments,” he said.

At other times, they buy these materials from residents at very low prices.

‘As they say, genocide is the mother of invention’

– Om Said Erheem, Palestinian woman in Gaza

They sort the plastic by type, as some cannot be reused.

The usable plastic is then cut into small pieces, placed in special iron barrels, and set on fire, he explained.

While plastic is supposed to be shredded entirely, Abuassi says they just cut it into pieces manually due to the lack of electricity and specialised machinery.

The plastic goes through two phases: first, it is heated at high temperatures and burns, turning into vapour. Then, it is condensed and cooled, transforming into a liquid substance that is then distilled to separate diesel from gasoline and grease, he said.

After cooling and separation, the fuel undergoes additional purification to remove any remaining impurities, eventually producing gasoline or diesel that is ready for direct use.

The process typically takes about 12 hours to yield a few hundred litres of fuel.

Although the quality of this fuel is generally lower than that of imported fuel, most of Gaza residents now depend on it to power electricity generators, agricultural water pumps, large trucks, tuk-tuks, and motorcycles.

“At first, people were hesitant and avoided buying this type of fuel. But after alternatives nearly disappeared, or became available only at extremely high prices, demand began to rise,” Abuassi continued.

“Today, this fuel has become essential for sustaining life in Gaza, powering transportation and electricity generation. But our main customers are taxi drivers, who are struggling to keep working amid the soaring fuel prices following Israel’s closure.”

While the gasoline has completely disappeared from the markets, diesel can be found at around 70-90 shekels ($20 – $26) per litre.

But while plastic-derived fuel can power transportation and certain engines, hospitals and key service providers across the Strip cannot rely on it to run their generators.

As a result, their operations remain at serious risk due to the near-total depletion of fuel supplies, an issue further compounded by Israel’s refusal to allow UN agencies to retrieve fuel from areas where it has issued forced evacuation orders.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), between 15 May and 9 June, Israeli authorities denied access to northern Gaza 14 times, preventing fuel retrieval and resulting in the looting of approximately 260,000 litres.

The UN agency warned that without the immediate delivery of fuel and engine oil, telecommunications services across the blockaded enclave remain on the verge of shutting down, plunging the population into a complete blackout.

Blockade-proof alternatives

However, Gaza’s residents have found ways to use this improvised fuel for other vital needs, including cooking.

With cooking gas is completely unavailable since Israel sealed Gaza’s borders on 2 March, most families have returned to using firewood for daily meals.

But since it became available, many households have turned to purchasing plastic-derived diesel to power portable kerosene stoves, an increasingly relied-upon alternative since the prolonged use of firewood throughout Israel’s war on Gaza has led to severe health complications for numerous households.

“We never left northern Gaza, even when the occupation forced most residents to move south,” Om Said Erheem, a 48-year-old Palestinian, told MEE.

Instead, she said they were displaced dozens of times within northern Gaza itself, enduring countless hardships.

One of the toughest challenges was relying on firewood for cooking and heating water for bathing, she said.

“It affected everyone, men had to find and gather the wood, while women spent hours each day exposed to the heavy smoke from the firewood just to prepare meals,” she added. “This constant exposure caused widespread respiratory and eye problems among us.”

As the improvised fuel began to appear more frequently in the markets, Erheem decided to purchase a kerosene stove, which Gazans have managed to operate using this type of fuel.

“It has resolved a major challenge for us. It may not be the same as cooking gas, but I’m grateful we have an alternative that isn’t threatened by border closures,” she continued.

“Prices might increase over time, especially if plastic becomes scarce due to rising demand, but we are confident the fuel will remain available and unaffected by the blockade.”

Since the beginning of Israel’s blockade on Gaza in 2007, Palestinians in the coastal strip have faced recurring fuel crises that have forced the closure of the enclave’s only power plant, left them without cooking gas, caused internet blackouts, and even led to the deaths of premature babies and critically ill patients who relied on oxygen and electricity to keep life-saving machines running.

For instance, at least 20 patients, including six newborns and seven people in intensive care, died at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after fuel shortages led to a total power outage in November 2023.

In February 2024, five critically wounded patients died after power and oxygen were cut during the siege of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

At Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the collapse of fuel supply led to the deaths of four children and other patients due to lack of treatment, as declared by hospital staff in the same month.

“The fuel cutoff isn’t something new for us. For nearly two decades, we have gone back and forth trying to find alternatives, sometimes we failed, other times we succeeded,” Erheem said.

“But in the end, we have managed to survive every attempt to cut us off from life’s essentials, especially during the past 20 months.

“As they say, genocide is the mother of invention.”