A small business in war-time Gaza sews padded cloth diapers, creating jobs and helping weary parents

By WAFAA SHURAFA
Associated Press

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A small sewing workshop making cloth diapers with cotton padding in Gaza’s crowded city of Rafah is helping desperate parents with babies afford a basic necessity. Israel’s military campaign in the besieged enclave has hit parents of young children particularly hard, turning diapers and baby food into rare luxuries with sky-high prices. Hoping to combat the problem, seamstresses sew about 500 diapers a day from cloth and cotton pads. The product is better than plain cloth diapers and cheaper than the factory-made disposable wares. The manager of the sewing workshop knows the output will barely make a dent in the huge demand — but the little business is thriving and creating jobs.