Mike Bailey, Oxfam's Civil Society Programme Co-ordinator, reports on the current situation.

This Friday morning, I woke up very early to a curtain of mist. Thick fog in the morning promises calm seas with no wind; perfect fishing weather in an always treacherous sea.

With the closure of Karni (the main import and export crossing into Israel), the price of fish is low. Usually the price of fish is preposterously high for Gazan pockets. These days most people don't have jobs, or they earn very little. Only the fishermen families enjoy the catch with a lucky few who can still afford it. With border crossing open,fish is shipped to Israel via middlemen. But these days it is difficult for any cargo, human, or otherwise to leave Gaza. It is not simple to explain what it is like living in Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on earth, a narrow strip of land,

On Saturday my young daughter wanted to have a local type of fish that is prepared in public fish ovens, located on the sea side of the Beach Refugee Camp. I paid 100 NIS for three medium size fish! Bear in mind that a Palestinian Authority employee with a family an average family of 7 to 12 people received around 1.000 to 1.500 NIS a month. Many Gazans working for the PA have not received full salaries since the beginning of the international aid boycott going back to March 2006. Palestinian Authority employees have received an allowance every few months to keep them going. Others, who are lucky to be employed, earn around 200 USD per month.

Around 9 a.m. under a beautiful sun and blue sky I walked a short ten minute walk to have a cup of tea with a well known and loved lady who has been living herein Gaza for the past 23 years with her Palestinian husband. She has a well-known beauty centre and since she is warm and welcoming, I thought that it was the perfect stop for a cup of tea before continuing to the Friday vegetable market.

I sat down with her at the reception sharing a steaming cup of tea when I heard lots of noises from inside the shop. I wondered out loud "Is there a party inside?" she, answered, "Yes, this is our first wedding preparation since the events of last week!"

An essential ritual, weddings in Gaza are traditionally never ending occasions. Even during the most difficult times of the intifada (Palestinian uprising the first one started in 1987 and the most recent one since2000) and under Israeli incursions, wedding parades continued to take place: the bride in the car with flowers and bows, followed by their guests beeping their car horns, and sometimes a van ahead of them all, with a camera man filming the joyous occasion. In the background a live orchestra plays welcoming the bride and groom to a house or wedding hall, to celebrate the happy occasion.