GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — This summer, Maisara Abu Shamala, a painter, organized two trips with her friends to a vacation property she had rented. “The trips were fun,” she told Al-Monitor. “We swam the entire day without an abaya or veil. Women feel comfortable in these private rentals, which usually consist of several bedrooms, closets, a bathroom, a kitchen and a small garden with a big swimming pool for adults and another small one for children.”

Given the high demand for rental properties in summer, Abu Shamala said that it was not easy to find one in the Nuseirat camp, in central Gaza, but she eventually succeeded. “A rental property costs 400-600 shekels [$106-160] per day, and what made me think of booking one is that my husband does not allow me to go to the beach given the presence of a lot of men there,” she said. “Also, I do not like it when the wet abaya sticks to my body and becomes somewhat revealing.”

Even though the rental properties are costly, Abu Shamala's husband wanted her to go to a private swimming pool. By contrast, an outing to a public beach is limited to transportation fees, about 20 shekels ($5) maximum.

At the private pools at these properties, Abu Shamala said, women can wear lightweight clothes and therefore swim more easily. They listen to music and generally have fun, laughing like kids, which is something they cannot do at the beach. Conservative Palestinian society rejects the idea of women swimming in broad daylight in front of men and being loud in public places.