No sign of end to Gaza blockade, and food is running out

Every day, Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children count their remaining stocks of food.

- Malak A Tantesh

Every day, Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children count their remaining stocks of food. These are meagre: a kilo or so of beans, a bag of lentils, a little salt, some herbs, spices, and enough flour for half a dozen flatbreads cooked over a fire of wood splinters, waste plastic and cardboard.

In the two months since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, stopping food, medicine, fuel and anything else from entering the devastated territory, Ghalia's "cupboard" has slowly diminished.

There have been better days, when Ghalia has received a cash distribution from an NGO and has been able to buy fresh vegetables or fruit on the market, or been given a kilogramme of flour by a relative or friend.

But prices have risen steadily as the blockade has gone on. Sugar that once cost a dollar a kilo now costs 20 times that. A sack of old, poor-quality flour costs far more money than Ghalia can muster.

The bakeries run by the World Food Programme shut down some weeks ago, all out of flour or fuel.

The kitchens that hand out nearly a million meals every day in Gaza have limited supplies left. The warehouses of the UN are empty.

The family has not eaten meat or dairy products for months.

"We are trying as much as possible to stretch our food since the crossings closed... We now eat just one or two meals per day.

I divide the bread among my children just to curb their hunger.

I try to eat less so there's enough for them," Ghalia, 32, said.