As Israeli drones buzz overhead and ambulance sirens wail in the distance, Tarik Zaeem stays hunched over his laptop, working through lines of code for a Saudi valet parking app, debugging its barcode reader.

On weekdays he walks through the bombed-out streets of Gaza City to a coworking space where freelancers charge devices and access stable internet. Remote work provides desperately needed income and a form of escape from the impoverished and largely destroyed Gaza Strip.

"When I work, I forget everything and focus on the coding. I stop thinking about my family's basic needs," the 44-year-old programmer said of his wife and three children, who fled to Egypt early in the war. "I stop thinking about airstrikes or searching for drinking water. When I'm on my laptop, I shut everything else out."