Israel's intensified blockade on Gaza causes cooking gas crisis

25 November 2008

Oxfam's Mohammed Ali Abu Najela reports from the Gaza Strip.

Subia El Khalili is a 60-year-old grandmother who lives east of Gaza City with 11 family members. The family suffers severe poverty and relies on humanitarian aid. She is one of Oxfam's voucher scheme beneficiaries.

Here, Subia cooks food provided by Oxfam and its local partner organisation, Ma'an, on a wood fire. She has no cooking gas because of the latest tightening of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"My husband used to work as a carpenter but he has been unemployed for over a year and a half and our income is zero. We are mainly dependent on Oxfam's aid," she said. "We have five cooking gas canisters but all of them are empty. With cooking gas I used to cook for two hours, now its takes more than five hours for food to be ready, which makes me start cooking in very early in the morning."

Salha Mqat lives with her two sons, two daughters and her sick husband in a very simple home with almost no furniture. Her husband suffers various health problems and is unemployed so Salha carries the burden of providing for her family. She is benefiting from Oxfam's voucher scheme project.

Her children are excellent students but can no longer study at night because the family cannot afford candles to use during the regular electricity blackouts.

"I cook using a wood fire; my kids are collecting wood and plastics to cook the food provided by Oxfam. I have been using fire for more than a year because even if there are is cooking gas available I have neither a gas canister nor the money to buy the gas." Salha said.

Al Shifa hospital, one of the Gaza Strip's main hospitals, is close to running out of gas used for cooking food for patients and medical staff. The hospital's kitchen produces 1,500 - 2,000 meals every day, requiring 480 kg of cooking gas. The hospital expects to run out of cooking gas in a day or two.

Dozens of Gaza's restaurants like this one, the most famous in Gaza city, have closed. The sign on the door reads: 'Closed because of the imposed blockade and [lack of] cooking gas,' Even falafel and humus restaurants in Gaza, which thousands of people patronise for a cheap, tasty meal, have closed indefinitely.

The main flourmill in the Gaza Strip has shut down. People, unsure how long the current clamp down will last, are rushing to bakeries to stock up on bread.

One patron, Abu Khalil, said "today we are queuing for bread, tomorrow we might stand the same way in a queue for the water, who knows!"

The owner of Al Shanti bakery in Gaza City said that he has stored flour in his warehouse, but he has run out of cooking gas to run the ovens. He told me that in the coming few hours he would be forced to close his bakery. He needs 240 kg of cooking gas daily but there is no more available in the Gaza Strip because of the total closure that began earlier this month.