‘We have no choice’: Gazan workers find a lifeline in freelancing amid war

With poor internet and electricity, Palestinians flock to co-working spaces and find hope despite Israel's attacks

It took more than 20 minutes and eight dropped WhatsApp calls to finally connect with Farida Algoul in Gaza. Internet service is not reliable anywhere in the territory, including in the provisional co-working space in the city of Deir al-Balah, where she and 50 or so others work remotely.

An English teacher by training, Algoul splits her time between a makeshift classroom in a tent, where she teaches for free, and a table in this cafe turned workspace where she translates documents from Arabic to English. Over the grainy video call, other freelancers who had been forcibly displaced to the central Gazan city could be seen working alongside her, all of them vying for the coveted internet connection.