Gaza transport system near collapse after 2 years of bombardment destroyed roads, infrastructure

(21 Nov 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
East of Gaza City, Gaza Strip – 16 November 2025
1. Various of run down cars towing packed trailers down destroyed roads

ASSOCIATED PRESS
East of Gaza City, Gaza Strip – 18 November 2025
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad Khatib, local resident:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
"Today we are experiencing a severe transportation crisis. Fuel is currently unavailable, and public transportation is extremely poor. It takes a long time to get to work.”
3. Various of women sitting on tuk-tuk waiting for it to fill up
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Um Mohammad Hamouda, displaced woman:
"This suffering is immense. People used to move by car, but now we rely on carts and tuk-tuks. I suffer from a herniated disc in my back and neck. Every bump in the tuk-tuk hits my back. This is the suffering we endure.”
5. Various of donkey-cart carrying women down street
6. Makeshift wagon hitched to a run-down car carrying people down street
7. Various of donkey-carts, tuk-tuks and wagons

ASSOCIATED PRESS
East of Gaza City, Gaza Strip – 19 November 2025
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abeer Al-Nakla, displaced woman from northern Gaza:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
”Our lives were better before. Transportation was easier, especially for women. We used to move by car. After the displacement, women were humiliated. We now rely on donkey-drawn carts, which are not always available. We have to walk more because public transportation is scarce. We only have carts, and even those are difficult to find."
9. Various of destroyed vehicles piled up on the roadside
STORYLINE:
In Gaza, a makeshift wagon hitched to a run-down car carries a dozen people along a muddy, destroyed road flanked by mounds of debris.

Some residents pedal battered bicycles.

Others cram into tuk-tuks — small three-wheeled motorized rickshaws commonly used across the Middle East — or cling to the back of pickup trucks.

“It’s a transportation crisis. It takes us a long time to get to work,” said one resident, Mohammad Khatib.

Women clutch their babies as they climb onto donkey-drawn carts.

A dump filled with the charred and twisted remains of cars and buses stretches into the distance.

Two years of bombardment have destroyed roads, vehicles and key fuel infrastructure, leaving Gaza’s transportation network near collapse.

With most of the pre-war transportation system wiped out, and no new vehicles allowed into the Strip, many areas are reachable only by improvised transport.

“It is a struggle we are enduring. I have back issues and they get worse when I ride a tuk-tuk,” said Um Mohammad Hamouda, a displaced woman sitting in a tuk-tuk with two others.

Fuel shortages remain one of the biggest constraints.

In a report published in October, the United Nations Office for Project Services warned that deliveries into Gaza remain “far below the minimum required” to power hospitals, water systems and basic civilian movement.

“Transportation used to be easier, especially for women, as we used to ride in cars,” said Abeer Al-Nakla, a displaced woman from northern Gaza.

“We have to walk more because public transportation is scarce. We only have carts, and even those are difficult to find," she said.

AP video produced by Wafaa Shurafa

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