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“Father, we want to eat, we don’t have bread,” my eldest daughter complained. I paused and then thought to ask my son Munir to bring some felafel sandwiches — our answer to fast food — so we can quickly fill our empty stomachs. Fortunately, after a while Munir returned carrying sandwiches bought at an inflated price.

While we were eating, my wife asked me to drive early to Gaza City the next day so we might buy some bread. Imagine that today in Gaza, acquiring a simple package of bread requires getting up at daybreak, purchasing a gallon of expensive gas because it is smuggled in from Egypt, and that it will take two or three hours to complete the task! Of course, my family’s story is not special. It is the story of all families in Gaza who are trying to survive a deliberate humanitarian crisis created by Israel.

According to Abdel Naser al-Ajrami, head of the bakers association in Gaza, more than 27 bakeries out of a total of 47 in Gaza City have been shut down completely due to a lack of cooking gas and wheat, as Israel has sealed the commercial border crossings for almost two months now. Al-Ajrami explained yesterday that sufficient quantities will be distributed to bakeries in the next three days, adding that there have been relentless efforts by officials of the ruling Hamas government to ensure that the necessary amounts cooking gas and wheat are supplied throughout Gaza.

On 18 December, the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) halted food distribution to 750,000 refugees in Gaza, including my family, because their stocks of wheat flour have run out. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israel is only allowing 16 truckloads of goods to enter Gaza per day. In contrast, 475 trucks per day entered the Strip in May 2007 when the militia loyal to Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip amidst factional fighting with forces loyal to the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.