In gym salvaged from rubble, Gazans release anger on weight machines

By Hussam Al-Masri

KHAN YOUNIS (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes destroyed the building housing Adli al-Assar's gym in Khan Younis in February. So he decided he doesn't need a building.

"I went to the area and dug with my own hands, along with the help of my children and friends, until we were able to retrieve some of the equipment," he explained.

Now, his reopened gym is crammed with salvaged weightlifting machines on an empty patch of ground surrounded by a corrugated fence, where dozens of Gazans were pumping iron under the open sky. For displaced men and boys with no other outlet for their anger and sorrow, it's more than just sport, he says.

"They come here to release their negative energy, to relieve the psychological strain they experience living in displacement, in tents, and under harsh conditions," al-Assar said.

Nearly a year into a war which began with Hamas' deadly attack on Israel and has led to an Israeli assault that has driven nearly all Gazans from their homes, there are few facilities for recreation. All schools are closed; public buildings are bombed out or shut.

At the outdoor gym, weightlifter Tairq Bakroun hoisted barbells in bicep curls, worked on his pecs at a pulley machine, then stepped behind the bench press to spot for another lifter.

"I lost everything, we lost our families, our homes," he said.

"We come here to the gym just to release the anger within us. Instead of taking it out in the house, and breaking the house and the tents, we come here and release our anger on the machines."

(Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Michael Georgy and Peter Graff)