Both Byron and Gaza are coastal communities and both have a lively surf scene.  By twinning with Gaza Byron can identify with this victimised community, raise funds, advertise its plight and lobby on its behalf.  Gaza is home to 2 million people who are mainly refugees cast out of the West Bank by the Israelis.  For 10 years Israel has imposed an illegal siege on Gaza and waged three wars since 2008, including the 2014 offensive, which left more than 2,200 Palestinians dead and over 11,100 others injured.  Gaza's fisherfolk are limited to only 6kms offshore and are regularly harassed by the Israeli navy who confiscate their boats and shoot them.  Gazan farmers fare no better, having to endure Israeli gunfire from across the border as they tend their fields.  Conditions are so bad in bombed out Gaza that the UN estimates it will be uninhabitable by 2020.