Fishermen are no longer at sea, their boats anchored along the beach. They have no fuel with which to go out and make a living.

I can count the number of cars on the streets with one hand. Even my car is now in the garage. I converted it to domestic gas as there was no benzene, now there is hardly any gas or benzene in Gaza. Vital services like ambulances have come to a halt and universities have had to close down.

Inflated prices of fuel on the black market have led to increased prices of fruit and vegetables. The price of tomatoes, have risen from one Shekel to five because farmers have to pay elevated fuel prices so that their wells can function in order to irrigate land, operate tractors and transport their goods.

As the weather is getting warmer and the school holidays are approaching families like to go to the beach to relax, breathe in fresh air and swim. With 40,000 cubic metres of raw sewage pumping into the sea, it is no longer a joy but a public health risk.

I am not sure yet what I will do with my kids once the summer starts. Incursions happen on a daily basis, the beach is out of bounds and I do not even want to turn the television on for my children through fear of them being presented with yet more violence.

Six months ago, my eldest child asked for a bicycle. I said, " If you get good grades my son, I will get you one." He did get good grades but he did not get the promised bike. There are no bikes for sale in Gaza any more. In fact there is very little for sale. Shops have shut down and now even have signs in their windows reading 'shut because of the siege'.

I have even spent the last two months, searching for shoes for my children so that they do not have to walk around bare footed. I could not find them. Eventually, a colleague coming over from Jerusalem brought some shoes to us.

We cannot let this blockade stop us from being creative and from developing ourselves. Our rights and our freedom of movement have been taken away but no one can take away our freedom of mind. This is what I tell my niece and nephew. Not surprisingly they see the future before them as dark. They do not know what is coming next nor does any one.

But I tell them that if they want change, it has to come from them, it has to come from inside. They cannot allow outside influences to stop them from having a future. They need to build their own knowledge and make their own plans and build their own direction in life. Granted, there are many restrictions in Gaza - 1.5 million of us are locked inside this strip of land but if we give up, we will have nothing left.