The Gaza Strip's lawless bikers

At least 200 people were killed across Gaza in motorbike accidents last year

In the small dusty money-changing shop where he works in the Jabalia refugee camp, 28-year-old Mohammed Abu Qamar draws on a cigarette, limps toward me and rolls up his trouser leg.

Pink scars surround his ankle. He leans forward and places my hand on the back of his head. I feel an unnatural rough lump beneath his hair.

Mr Abu Qamar was a Gaza biker.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I still have headaches and memory problems but at least I am still alive Mohammed Abu Qamar

Not any more. Two months ago he spent a week in intensive care with a severely fractured skull and a broken leg. He was one of thousands of Gazans who have been victims of motorcycle accidents in the past year.

"I'm one of the lucky ones," he tells me. "I still have headaches and memory problems but at least I am still alive."

Mr Abu Qamar was hit from behind by a car. He and his bike were dragged along behind it.

He was wearing a helmet, although most people do not. It probably saved his life.

Laws ignored

In the past two-and-a-half years since Israel tightened its blockade of Gaza, there has been a huge increase in the number of motorbikes in Gaza smuggled through tunnels from Egypt.

Israel says the blockade aims to target the Islamic movement Hamas, which controls Gaza and has fired thousands of rockets into Israel in the past decade.

The blockade means only limited humanitarian aid is allowed in.

Dr Fawsi says he sees up to 40 injuries from bike accident each week

It is virtually impossible to get a car into Gaza, although some ambitious tunnel diggers have succeeded by cutting vehicles into sections.

Motorbikes are more manageable. The Gazan biker, though, cannot expect too much freedom of the open road, given that the territory is only about 40km (25 miles) in length.

Mohammed bought his motorbike for $1000 (£613), far cheaper than a car. The trouble is many people do not really know how to ride them.

Most do not have lessons, and virtually nobody wears a helmet.

Strictly speaking, you have to be at least 16 and have a licence to ride a motorbike in Gaza, but the laws are widely ignored.

Last year at least 200 people were killed across Gaza in motorbike accidents. Thousands more were injured.

"We are seeing 30-40 injuries from motorbike accidents every week - two to three in the intensive care unit," says Doctor Fawsi Nabul Silya, head of the Intensive Care Unit at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

"Outside of fighting from last year's war with Israel, motorbike accidents are the main reason people find themselves in the intensive care unit."

"Around a third of them will die," Dr Fawsi says. "Only around 2% of people wear helmets."

Hamas' 'crackdown'

Such figures though show little sign of dimming the enthusiasm for motorbikes.

Few bikers in Gaza bother to wear helmets despite the law

On the edge of Gaza City on some grubby wasteland, hundreds of bikers gather at an ad-hoc motorbike market.

"All the bikes come from Egypt," one of the sellers tells me. Most cost around $700-800.

A lot of the new bikes are made in China. On the petrol tank a little sticker reads: "Warning: Wear a safety helmet and bright coloured cloth. Don't ride after drinking alcohol and read the manual".

I ask one of the young bikers if he follows the advice.

"Alcohol is not allowed in Gaza so that is not a problem," he laughs. "Most people drive carefully and slowly. It is the young people who cause the accidents."

Gazan doctors, though, would dispute that.

The Hamas government says it is cracking down on people who ride without a licence or a helmet. But it is not uncommon to see Hamas security men riding two or even three to a bike, all without helmets.

As for Mr Abu Qamar, I ask him if he will ever ride a motorbike again.

"No!" he relies emphatically, "No!"