DESPITE the dire humanitarian crisis across the Gaza Strip, where a fragile ceasefire remains in place, a handful of Palestinian surfers are finding relief riding the waves of the territory’s Mediterranean coastal waters.

Only three or four men still surf due to a shortage of surfboards and the materials needed to fix damaged ones, said Tahseen Abu Assi, a surfer in Gaza City.

Abu Assi carried his surfboard with him through every displacement he endured during the two-year war because, he said, he wouldn’t be able to replace it.

“If something happened to it I won’t be able to get another one,” he said, noting that no boards have entered the Palestinian territory since 2007. Surfboards are among sports equipment and other products that are banned by Israel.

Last week, Abu Assi was among three surfers who took to the sea off the Gaza City port, including Khalil Abu Jiab, who road the high waves with his arms raised in joy.

After the war began, the Israeli military heavily restricted sea activity in Gaza, with the United Nations reporting that some fishermen were attacked onshore or at sea, including incidents involving fishermen using paddle boats.

Last year, Israel declared Gaza’s waters a “no-go zone,” banning fishing, swimming and sea access, making surfing risky.

Fishing and swimming are prohibited and dangerous in the waters off northern and southern Gaza. It’s also risky to enter the waters off central Gaza, where Gaza City is located, due to Israeli patrols.

“There is fear of course, but we can’t leave this sport,” Abu Assi said. “During the war, in the middle of the war, in the middle of the bombing and the planes above us, we used to go down and practice this sport.”

Gaza’s waves rarely rise high enough for surfing, so when they do, surfers drop everything to get in the water, he added.