GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Milk and dairy factories in Gaza have steadily defied the Israeli siege imposed since 2007, maintaining capacity and productivity in the face of imported milk and dairy products from more modern and more productive factories in Israel and the West Bank. Despite their technological and financial vulnerabilities, the Gaza factories have become a critical part of the livestock sector, which has declined due to the various wars with Israel.

In the Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, lies the Dalloul cheese factory, in operation since 1998. The enterprise had to move three times between 2008 and 2014, after being shelled by Israel for allegedly sheltering rockets. The factory's owner, Mamoun Dalloul, 40, rebuilt it every time.

“This factory is my source of livelihood and the only work that I know. It was bombed during Operation Cast Lead in 2008, and also in 2010 when Israel was carrying out series of night strikes, and it was bombed in the war of 2012. The storage facilities were also bombed in the last war, in 2014, under the same false security pretenses.”

Before the 2012 conflict, Dalloul had written a letter to European Union headquarters in Gaza City, ultimately in vain, in an attempt to get international protection for his facility. The factory ended up being bombed, and Dalloul could not receive compensation from the United Nations because it was targeted for supposed security reasons.