GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In southeast Gaza City, in the Zeitoun district, the Abu Wadi family maintains its tradition of sword making, although their customers are getting fewer.

The family’s small workshop is furnished the same as when it first opened 60 years ago. Sword making has been the family business for hundreds of years, including during the years its members lived in the city of Beersheba and after their migration following the Nakba, or the "catastrophe," the forced removal of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel in 1947-49.

Moeen Abu Wadi, 48, is the only sword-maker in the Gaza Strip, known among people as “the sword-maker of Gaza.” His workshop sports ancient swords, some of which are more than 300 years old, and Arab daggers hanging on the walls.

“Sword making is my life. Our workshop is the most famous and the oldest in the entire Zeitoun district since 1957. I inherited it from my father, who in turn inherited it from his grandfather. My great grandfather’s wish was that all his grandchildren and descendants learn and preserve this profession through the generations,” Abu Wadi told Al-Monitor.