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Summer days at the beach, in Israel and Gaza

The beaches in Tel Aviv and Gaza City, just 70 kilometers (40 miles) apart, look out on the same cresting waves of the Mediterranean Sea. But on the sandy shore there are different worlds on opposite sides of a century-old conflict.

In Tel Aviv, Israelis wear bikinis, shorts and tank tops that show off their tattoos. Bottles of cold beer sweat under the sun as golden retrievers race after frisbees and surfers carry their boards out to the breakers. At first glance it looks like San Diego or Marseilles, a wealthy seaside metropolis where the Middle East and its various catastrophes can be comfortably ignored.

Gaza is a crowded Palestinian enclave that has been cut off by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas militants seized power in 2007. The beach is one of the only open spaces where families can breathe — a rare vista without fences or guard towers.   

A Palestinian man wears a necklace with a map of Palestine poses for a photo on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021, left, and an Israeli beach worker wears a necklace with the Star of David pendant poses for a photo on the beachfront early morning in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, July 2, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

Oded Balilty, like most Israelis, has not been to Gaza since Israel withdrew its soldiers and settlers in 2005. Khalil Hamra, like most Palestinians from Gaza, has never been to Tel Aviv. 

The two Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers have been covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for The Associated Press for two decades but have only met in person once, at a photo exhibition in Europe in 2003. 

For this project, they communicated by Zoom and spent months taking pictures, sharing them, and then trying to find similar shots from the other side. After covering four Gaza wars from opposite sides of the battle lines, they tried to capture a shared reality.

“On the same day that I was standing with my feet in the water in Tel Aviv, Khalil was standing with his feet in the water in Gaza, and it was the same water,” Balilty said.

The differences were just as clear.

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Balilty described how the project made him feel as though he was “seeing Gaza through Khalil's eyes.” Hamra was particularly moved by a set of nearly identical pictures from Tel Aviv and Gaza, each showing three young men in their teens or early 20s reclining on the beach.

Men that age in Israel are usually doing their compulsory military service. Men that age in Gaza often risk their lives in violent protests along the heavily-guarded frontier. “But these guys, they were relaxing, they were swimming, they were having fun,” Hamra said. 

Palestinian children react as they ride a camel on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, Aug. 20, 2021, left, Israeli Moshe Nehoshtan, walks with his four pet rats on his shoulder in Tel Aviv’s beach, Israel, Friday, June. 11, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since 2008, the most recent one in May. Rockets fired from Gaza crashed into Tel Aviv and set off air raid sirens across the city. Israeli airstrikes toppled multistory buildings in Gaza City and the navy shelled the coast.

The wars and the blockade have battered Gaza's infrastructure. Untreated sewage has poured into the sea in recent years, polluting the coastline and drifting north into Israel.

Palestinians routinely refer to Gaza as an open-air prison for its 2 million residents, most of them the descendants of refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israelis tend to view Gaza as a den of terrorists, whose rockets have been sowing fear in neighboring Israeli communities for more than a decade.

But a typical summer day at the beach reveals shared humanity.

Israeli boys and Palestinian boys can spend the whole day horsing around, scrambling up rocky jetties and plunging into the water again and again and again. Older boys try out parkour — urban gymnastics best attempted on soft sand. Israeli and Palestinian parents tenderly attach floats to their little ones, who squeal with glee each time the waves rush over their tiny toes.

Everyone basking in the same Mediterranean sun, watching the waves break off in the distance, savoring the long summer days while they last.

 

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An Israeli family enjoy the day on a dog friendly beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, July 10, 2021, left, and Palestinians enjoy their time while giving a bath to donkey on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, July 16, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, left, Khalil Hamra, left)

A Palestinian boy posses for a photograph as he stands with a camel at the beach in Gaza City, Friday, July. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Heart shapes drawn in sand as the sun sets over Tel Aviv’s beach, Israel, Saturday, June 12, 2021, left, and a Palestinian man works on a sand shape of heart on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, July 2, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, left, Khalil Hamra, right)

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Palestinian children play in the water as the sun sets over the beach of Gaza City, Friday, June 4, 2021, left, and Israeli youth play in the water as the sun sets over Tel Aviv’s beach, Israel, Friday, June 18, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

A man works on a sand sculpture as other beachgoers enjoy the sunset on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Palestinians pray the evening prayers on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, Aug 20, 2021, left, and Israelis play under a light pole early evening on Tel Aviv’s beach, Israel, Saturday, June 26, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

A Palestinian boy uses empty plastic bottles to flood while swimming, rests on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, July 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinians play covering a boy with sand on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, left, and Israeli youth play covering their friend with sand on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 20, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

Israelis practice footvolley on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Two Palestinians prepare their fishing nets before throwing them into the water, on the beach of Gaza City, Sunday, July. 4, 2021, left, and two Israelis prepare to throw their fishing nets in to the Mediterranean Sea on Tel Aviv's beach, Israel, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

A man walks by a dead puffer fish in Tel Aviv’s beach, Israel, Saturday, June 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Three Palestinians pose for a photograph while enjoying a summer day setting on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, July. 30, 2021, left, and three Israelis smile to the camera while enjoying a summer day on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

Palestinians enjoy a summer day at the beach of Gaza City, Saturday, June. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Israeli kids jump into the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv’s beach, Israel, Saturday, July 4, 2020, left, and Palestinians jump into the water as they enjoy a summer day on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, left, Khalil Hamra, right)

Palestinians enjoy a summer day on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, June. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

An Israeli man practices acrobatics on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, left, and Palestinians watch a man performs acrobatics on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, June 4, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, left, Khalil Hamra, right)

Ultra-orthodox Jewish men and children enjoy the day on a beach segregated three days a week for men and three days for women, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, July 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Beachgoers enjoy a summer day on Mediterranean Sea beach of Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, left, and Palestinians enjoy a summer day on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, left, Khalil Hamra, right)

Israeli Moshe Nehoshtan, plays with his pet rat on his face in Tel Aviv’s beach, Israel, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Palestinians spend a summer day on the beach as the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea, in Gaza City, Friday, Aug 20, 2021, left, and Israelis practice footvolley on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 12, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

An Israeli couple kiss as they bath with their dog in the water at dog friendly beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Palestinians enjoy a summer day on the beach of Gaza City, Friday, July 10, 2020, left, and two Israeli women take selfie on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021, right. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, right, Khalil Hamra, left)

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Photos by Khalil Hamra + Oded Balilty

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Khalil Hamra on Instagram

Oded Balilty on Instagram