The smell of roasted almonds, pistachios and peanuts fills the air on one of the streets off the main square in Gaza City. Al-Fawakheir Street is known for its old shops, where traditional handcrafts such as pottery are still practiced in shops with clay ovens, gas cookers and old furniture.

The source of the smell is a confectionery factory that makes “rahat lokum” — or “rahat al-hulqum” in Turkish — which is translated as "the ease of the throat.” The sweet is referred to as “lokum” or “halkoum," better known in English as Turkish delight.

Even though the confectionery machines of the factory are old, it is the main lokum supplier in the Gaza Strip, particularly at times when the demand for the sweets made of sugar, starch and nuts increases before Islamic and Christian holidays, as well as large weddings and family events. Lokum, offered with coffee, is a gesture of hospitality toward visitors.

Mohammed Sawan, the owner of the lokum confectionery factory, told Al-Monitor that his factory is over a hundred years old. “Back in 1870, the factory was opened by the Sawan family in the city of Jaffa, which is historically known for exporting this type of candy throughout the region, from the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon in Syria to northern Sinai,” he said.