Ayman Eid stands as motionless as his orange Hyundai taxi. Never mind taking a passenger somewhere, Ayman has no idea how he will ever get home. The queue at the petrol station seems endless. Drivers have run out of petrol even to queue up in their cars; they just queue up themselves, empty cans in hand. Only the lucky leave with a full can by the end of a day. [Read the full article]

A Palestinian man holds an empty fuel canister at a gas station in Gaza City. (Wissam Nassar, Maan Images)

Ayman Eid stands as motionless as his orange Hyundai taxi. Never mind taking a passenger somewhere, Ayman has no idea how he will ever get home.

The queue at the petrol station seems endless. Drivers have run out of petrol even to queue up in their cars; they just queue up themselves, empty cans in hand. Only the lucky leave with a full can by the end of a day.

Others park near petrol stations and sleep in their cars, in hope that an oil truck will turn up some time.

The roads are desolate, emptied of transportation and life.

Gaza needs 850,000 litres of fuel every week, says Mahmoud al-Khozendar, vice-president of the Petrol Station Owners Association in Gaza.

Israel allows in just 70,000 litres of it. He said Gaza also needs 2.5 million litres of coal gas a week. Only 800,000 litres per week comes in.

Israel has cut fuel and electricity supply since Hamas took control of Gaza strip from the Fatah party in June last year. That was after winning a democratic election in 2006.

The cuts have been made more severe after firing of home-made rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory.

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For Eid, the waiting has gone on longer than the new Israeli siege. "We have been appealing to the world for 40 years, and for 40 years our daily suffering has gone on. It is endless."

But it has become much harder now.

"These days, when the price of every single item is inflated due to the Israeli siege, the gas cuts hurt even more."

And it hurts in all sorts of ways. The students have disappeared from al-Talatini Street by the university.

It is hard now to get to the university campus, and if you do, it can be harder getting back home.

Thousands of students have not been to class for weeks, particularly those living far south and north.

To read the full article please visit Inter Press Service.