DEIR AL-BALAH: On a cinder block work table in the war-torn Gaza Strip, puppet maker Mahdi Karira is busy turning old tin cans into figurines.

He hums as he works, knowing his makeshift marionettes will put a smile on the faces of children displaced by the more than six-month war in the coastal Palestinian territory.

“These puppets can make things around us beautiful,” he said, surveying his handiwork.

Before the war, Karira had a large collection of brightly colored puppets, often taking them to perform in theaters.

Now, he performs in camps for displaced people after Israeli bombardment forced him to flee his home in Gaza City to Deir Al-Balah, in the center of the narrow strip.

Several puppets are suspended along the workshop walls. 

Their bodies are topped by expressive human faces carved onto wood or tin cans, and their limbs are hooked to strings that Karira uses to make them walk and talk.

With Gaza under siege, new materials are hard to come by, so he makes do with debris, fishing lines, and old sardine tins stamped with the UN logo, which he brings to life with a touch of paint.

“Unfortunately, after the displacement, there were no more puppets, no more theater,” he said. 

“I left all my work in Gaza City,” in the territory’s north.

“There are not many raw materials to work with — only cans of all shapes and sizes around us.”

UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, estimates the war in Gaza has displaced around 850,000 children in Gaza. 

Many are sheltering in camps around Deir Al-Balah, where childhood fun is a distant memory.

“I try to make shows and performances to bring joy to the children in the displacement camps, so we remain steadfast on this earth despite the aggressions,” Karira said about Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza, sitting beside his pliers and a painted puppet head.

Karina said keeping up his craft as the war rumbled around him was vital.

“The most important thing is to remain faithful to your work by creating your art,” he said.

“Each of us has his trade, talents, and art that allows him to continue to have an activity despite the aggression.”

The territory’s cultural heritage has been devastated — from art centers and museums to historic buildings.

As he watches Gaza reduced to rubble, Karira said the puppets “can tell beautiful things, tell our history and stories to children.”