In a bustling Gaza City market, a money repairer expertly inspects a worn, yellow 100 shekel ($30.50; £23.10) note. He straightens it out and enhances its faded colour with careful strokes of a pencil.
Baraa Abu al-Aoun should have been studying at university - but instead he ekes out a living from a table he has set up at the roadside, taking a small sum to help keep cash in circulation.
Fixing banknotes is a thriving new business in Gaza.
Ever since the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023 and the devastating war that ensued, Israel stopped transfers of banknotes, along with most other supplies.
Most banks were destroyed in Israeli strikes, and many were looted. While some branches have reopened since a ceasefire took effect seven weeks ago, there are still no working ATMs.
But people need cash to buy food and essentials. That has forced them to turn to informal money merchants who charge enormous commissions to turn digital transfers into cash. It has also sparked a huge increase in the use of e-wallets and money transfer apps.
And it means that every existing banknote matters more than ever - no matter how tattered. That's where Baraa comes in. My tools are simple: a ruler, pencils, coloured pencils and glue, he says.
The ceasefire hasn't changed the financial situation. What I do now is to serve people and help them.
Gaza's economic collapse has been so catastrophic during two years of intense war that a new UN report says its entire population of more than two million has been pushed into poverty.
Four in five people are now unemployed according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), and even those who still have an income or savings struggle to access cash.
It's pure suffering and nothing else, says Numan Rayhan, who is displaced in Gaza City from Jabalia in northern Gaza with few belongings. Shortage of income, shortage of money, no cash flow from the banks.
Early in the war, Israeli strikes targeted banks, which Israeli officials alleged were linked to Hamas. Their vaults were looted by armed Palestinian gangs, some presumed to have been Hamas. The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) has previously said that cash worth about $180m (£136m) was stolen.
Electronic transfers through bank apps - for which shop and stall owners charge minor fees - have become a popular workaround for Gazans making purchases, even of small items.
The PMA, which acts as a financial regulator, has launched a payment system allowing instant transactions between local bank accounts. For those without accounts, The Bank of Palestine offers e-wallets and says there are now more than 500,000 users in Gaza. These transactions can be done without an internet connection or app.
E-wallets are being used to send financial aid directly to needy families, by humanitarian agencies including Unicef and the World Food Programme. Since early last year, Unicef says it has been able to make cash transfers to about a million people - half of them children.
Back in Gaza City, Baraa Abu al-Aoun holds the banknote he has been working on up to the light. expert repairs draw more customers as they seek help in a dire economic situation.
As Baraa toils on, he longs for a return to a normal life with prospects of more profitable employment. I just want this war to end fully, he says. In Gaza, we're just surviving. We're not human beings anymore.
