DEIR AL-BALAH — Three surfers, including Tahseen Abu Assi and Khalil Abu Jiab, took to the sea off the Gaza City port on Tuesday for a rare session in waters that have been heavily restricted during the war. Abu Jiab rode the high waves with his arms raised in joy.

Only three or four men still surf in Gaza due to a shortage of surfboards and the materials needed to fix damaged ones, Abu Assi said. No surfboards have entered the Palestinian territory since 2007, and surfboards are among sports equipment and other products banned by Israel, he said.

Abu Assi carried his surfboard with him through every displacement he endured during the two-year war because he would not be able to replace it, he said. Gaza's waves rarely rise high enough for surfing, he said, so when they do, surfers drop everything to get in the water.

"As soon as the sea gets high, you leave your work and leave your whole life. Work can be caught up on, as they say. We go practice this sport." he said.

He described continuing to surf through the fighting. "There is fear of course, but we can't leave this sport. 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," he said.

After the war began, the Israeli military heavily restricted sea activity in Gaza. Last year, Israel declared Gaza's waters a "no-go zone," banning fishing, swimming and sea access. Fishing and swimming are prohibited and dangerous in the waters off northern and southern Gaza, and it is risky to enter the waters off central Gaza, where Gaza City is located, due to Israeli patrols. The United Nations reported that some fishermen were attacked onshore or at sea, including incidents involving fishermen using paddle boats.

Israel's war with Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023, after militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed 72,628 Palestinians and injured 172,520 others, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. A ceasefire remains in place across the Gaza Strip, though deadly Israeli strikes have continued, with both Hamas and Israel accusing each other of violating the truce.