// Entry #32
The Mina is one of the Gaza Strip’s most beautiful coastal stretches, featuring Gaza City’s main port, a small fish market, a memorial for the Turkish nationals murdered on the Mavi Marmara headed to Gaza, and a series of relatively elegant hotels frequented by foreigners and young Palestinian men and women wishing to escape the noise and the commotion of the city surrounding them. It’s not spatially large nor is it always open to the public but it is a landmark in Gaza that merits publicity.
This marble monument stands in memory of the nine Turkish individuals killed during Israel’s raid of the Mavi Marmara during the first global Freedom Flotilla. Each panel features one of the nine names as well as a Turkish flag alongside a Palestinian flag, symbolizing the strength of international solidarity and celebrating their lives as honorary Palestinians.
Immediately to the side of the marble memorial is this set of flags. Turkish flags line much of Gaza’s coasts and can even be found taped onto store windows, hanging from rearview mirrors, and waving at the front entrance of many restaurants.
These boats are meant to be used for fishing but because the smaller and more popular fishing boats are regularly damaged in attacks by the Israeli Navy, these larger boats are used for rescue operations as well.
This could be considered one angle of Gaza City’s skyline, visible from a segment of land that extents outwards into the Mediterranean Sea.
Hundreds of fishing and row boats dot the coast.
This is how the Mina looks from the seventh floor of the Adam Hotel. Many of the boats on the sand are either damaged beyond repair or are currently undergoing maintenance.
This is another view from the seventh floor of the Adam Hotel. The sea is usually this calm and if you look closely, you can see a slight bend in sea surface representing the curvature of the earth (assuming this isn’t due to camera lens distortion).
The marble memorial stands prominently in the Mina and is oftentimes the site of demonstrations in support of Flotilla-like efforts.
This ship is one of the few large vessels belonging to the Palestine but it is currently not fit to sail. Nevertheless, it serves almost as a vintage reminder of what this busy port once was before the siege on Gaza began.
Sami Kishawi
Beautiful photos! How long has the Flotilla monument been there? It’s really nice.. I’m wondering how it was built and where the materials came from..
It’s relatively new; a few months maybe? From what I’ve been told, it was funded by Turkey. The materials most likely came through Erez from Ramallah or through Rafah. I doubt it would’ve been sent through the tunnels!
Assalamu alaikum Sami..
the photos remembered me the Mavi Marmara martyrs again.
Thank you…