

By Olly Lambert

Director, The Tea Boy of Gaza



Twelve-year-old Mahmoud has a unique position from which to view the fighting between Palestinian factions.

He spends his day selling tea to the patients and staff at Al Shifa, the biggest hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Mahmoud is an expert at ducking and weaving between the crowds of doctors, nurses, staff and patients, all the while holding a kettle of hot, sweet tea, and hustling for a sale before it all goes cold.

But it is not just doctors and nurses that Mahmoud sells to.

Al Shifa is also full of armed militants from Gaza's myriad rival factions and groups.

Since the withdrawal of Israeli settlers and forces last year, violence between the political factions of Fatah and Hamas - as well as between powerful rival families - has sharply escalated.

The injured fighters and their comrades inevitably find themselves face-to-face in the hospital corridors, and gun fights between them are an almost daily occurrence.

"When fighting breaks out, it's usually over nothing," says Mahmoud.

"They're not really allowed to enter the building with guns, but when they're told they can't take their weapons in, they all start shooting. But I love all the chaos."

Supplementary income

Mahmoud's favourite area to sell in is the maternity ward, where he can often sell out in one visit.

After that, he has to head to the busier areas like the orthopaedic wards or the surgeries, but there he will have to contend with the heavily armed Hamas security forces, the latest addition to Shifa's staff.

Ahmed al Mohgrbe is forced to look elsewhere to supplement his income, and spends his time off driving a taxi



Everything changed after the elections January 2006, when Hamas won its shock election victory and took control of Al Shifa.

The international community reacted angrily to the election of a militant organisation.

Israel sealed its border with Gaza allowing no Palestinians out and no supplies in, and began withholding $50m (£28m) per month of tax revenues that would normally flow in via its banks.

The international community blocked the $1bn (£584m) of aid per annum, that had been keeping Gaza alive.

As a result, no government workers have been paid for five months.

The price of basic food supplies has gone up and even fewer people have spare change to buy Mahmoud's tea.

Like many staff at Al Shifa, staff nurse Ahmed al Mohgrbe is forced to look elsewhere to supplement his income, and spends his time off driving a taxi around Gaza city.

"We have to survive somehow," he says. "I have 23 years' experience as a nurse, but I have not been paid for five months. This is the price we pay for democracy."

New strategies

Hamas gave weapons and uniforms to some of their supporters and declared them a new security force

After a spate of shoot-outs at Shifa, Hamas introduced a 200-strong, heavily-armed "New Security Force" to take control of the hospital.

Under the control of one Hamas military leader, Abu Abdullah, teams of six armed men now stand guard at nearly every door, and patrols make regular tours of the grounds and car parks.

"Things have got far tougher," says Mahmoud, sitting on the balcony of the house he shares with this six brothers and sisters, the gates of Shifa hospital just a few feet away.

"I used to get through two stacks of cups a day, now it's more like one. Sometimes, it's not even half a stack."

"I've gradually worked out how to sneak in without them noticing us.

"If there's a guy guarding the door, I can usually get in by slipping him a free cup of tea, but things are definitely harder."

Expert salesman

Over the years, Mahmoud has refined a number of tricks to help him bring in sales.

Mahmoud and two of his brothers support the whole family

"Let's say there are three guys sitting down, and some kid is trying to sell them tea. I'll push in and offer them all tea for nothing.

So they take it from me, but then they'll feel bad and give me some money. It always works."

Mahmoud's father, Wahel, is less pleased that his young son is becoming an expert salesman.

Three years ago his metal workshop was bombed by the Israeli Air Force on suspicion that it was manufacturing weapons for Palestinian militants.

Wahel's livelihood was destroyed overnight.

"I want my son to have a better life than me, and instead I have to wake him up and make him work for a living. I hate it. But this is how we have to live. It's out of my hands, he has to work.

"He goes out selling to support his brothers. I'm telling you, life is tough."

The Tea Boy of Gaza was broadcast on Tuesday, 3 October, 2006 at 2150 BST on BBC Two.