In a corner of the Taqat Gaza co-working space, 23-year-old programmer Saja al-Ghoul is developing her latest mobile app, “Waselni,” aimed at easing transportation woes in the Palestinian enclave. The app allows ride-sharing and trip coordination to cut soaring transport costs, and includes a prepaid e-wallet to bypass the cash crisis worsened by the war.

Bahaa al-Mallahi, a 26-year-old information systems graduate, is working on “Rajja’li,” a digital platform for lost and found items. He noted that recovering lost belongings has become extremely difficult, with appeals flooding social media. He plans to expand the platform to help find missing children, a growing problem due to displacement and overcrowding.

Both developers face significant hurdles. Saja’s app requires widespread adoption to be useful, while Bahaa needs official cooperation to build trust. The cost of development has risen sharply, especially for paid AI tools. Bahaa lost his job after the war and struggles with remote work opportunities.

“Today, internet and electricity have become luxuries,” Bahaa said, highlighting the high cost of co-working spaces that provide basic infrastructure. Engineer Sharif Naeem, founder of Taqat Gaza, said the initiative was a direct response to the collapse of Gaza’s tech sector after the war.

Taqat Gaza started as a small workspace for remote workers and expanded to multiple locations, now housing about 250 freelancers and programmers. Naeem noted that the war created a massive knowledge gap, as young people focused on survival while the tech world advanced rapidly.

“The youth here are not building fantasy projects; they are building solutions for problems they experience every day,” Naeem said. He believes Gaza’s tech sector can recover with proper support and investment, but the road ahead remains difficult due to weak infrastructure and financial obstacles.

Source: www.aljazeera.com