"Shhhhh... Please be quiet. I need to listen to the radio," Ashraf Soradi told the customers that packed his mini market in Gaza's Nusseirat refugee camp, as he moved the small radio set closer to his ears, ignoring everyone and everything but the news bulletin describing the latest developments in the Israeli incursion on the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza.
The image of Soradi glued to his radio set is not unique among today's Gazans. The sudden rise in local radio stations - seven in the last three years - reflects the Gazans' need for constant updates and detailed information on the situation in different parts of the Gaza Strip, the kind of information rarely provided by international newswires and satellite channels.
Between the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1994, and the outbreak of the intifada six years later, the Gaza Strip had only one PA-owned and operated radio station: Voice of Palestine - Second Program (the First Program is broadcast from Ramallah in the West Bank). However, the inability of the official PA radio to fulfill Gazans' needs for detailed information in light of the intifada made way for the rise of seven more stations - two PA-owned and five privately (or semi-privately) owned.
Sawt Al Hurriya (Voice of Freedom) was one of the first private radio stations to be established. The colorful and detailed information this station provided attracted Gazans across the Strip, turning it into the most listened-to radio station in Gaza.
Over the past few years, Gazans have grown more dependent on these local stations, which provide information vital for their day-to-day life. "Every morning I turn on the radio before I head out on my daily rounds to know which roads are closed," said Shadi Eisawi, a 28-year-old taxi driver. "I also listen to the morning news bulletin to find out which parts the Israelis are invading today in order to avoid these areas."
According to Majdi Al Arabeed, owner and director of the Voice of Freedom, the high rating his local radio station has earned stems from its perceived lack of bias. "All international newswires are governed by their editorial policies, and almost all of them are under US or Israeli influence, so they don't report everything here," he said. "However, we cover the news as it occurs and without holding anything back from our audience."
Despite their success, local radios in Gaza often start - and remain - on a shoestring, with little income generated from commercials and program sponsorships in the shadow of Gaza's constantly deteriorating economic conditions. Arabeed points out that despite their hard work and his wish to give them raises, his staff earns very low salaries. "Some only get IS700 ($155) per month, which is barely enough to survive on," he said.
Yehya Al Madhoun, Sawt Al Shabab's field correspondent, who recently earned a good reputation among Gazans for his extensive coverage of the Israeli incursion into northern Gaza, says that his salary is little more than IS1,000 per month, which barely covers his transportation and mobile phone bills.
"As part of my work I use my cellular phone a lot to call my sources and to present my coverage to the radio when I go live," he said. "This costs me a lot of money, and the radio station pays only part of it. It is a frustrating situation, and I don't know if I can go on like this."
But even with these difficulties, nobody in the Gaza Strip can deny the vital role of local radio stations. Bashir Kafarneh is probably on top of the list, saying his mother owes her life to these stations.
Kafarneh, 32, lives in the northern town of Beit Hanoon, which has been besieged by Israeli forces many times, the last of which was during the onslaught on northern Gaza that began on September 28.
Kafarneh's mother suffers from chronic heart disease and cannot go without her daily medicine. During the latest Israeli invasion, Kafarneh was unable to leave his house because Israeli tanks were shooting at people indiscriminately, he said.
"The only way I could think of to bring the medicine to my mother was to call the emergency line of one of the radio stations," he said. "I explained my mother's condition and her need for her medicine on the air and they promised to help. In about two hours, a team from the Red Cross arrived at our house and gave us a week's supply of her medicine."
"I think my mother would not have been alive today if it wasn't for that radio station," Kafarneh said.
Tuned in: Gazan radio stations on the rise
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