- From 18-21 January, no food, medicine or fuel entered the Gaza Strip
- Power cuts, which were frequent prior to 19 January, were extended in duration to 12 hours per day everywhere in Gaza except Rafah
- The electricity shortage led to at least 40 percent of Gazans being denied access to running water and a breakdown in the sewage system which led to raw sewage being released into the sea at a rate of 30 million liters per day
- Hospitals were forced to rely on emergency generators and reduced their services
- The World Food Programme reported shortages of meat, wheat flour and frozen food in shops.
- On 23 January, WFP were unable to provide 10,000 of the poorest Gazans with three out of the five foodstuffs they normally receive
- On January 23, more than 100,000 Gazans crossed the border into Egypt after militants blew passages into the steel wall along the border
read full report: Gaza Closure: Situation Report, 18-24 January 2008 by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (pdf)
Letters from Gaza – …no expectations
"All around the world there are people, and organizations, who believe in human rights. Some fight to their last breath to protect these rights. I ask myself if we in Gaza are included in the group of "human beings", or if we are excluded from the ranks of those who should enjoy such rights? Today the beliefs and values I developed in my childhood have disintegrated; I have no choice now but to believe that the Palestinians of Gaza were created to suffer.
So much effort is being made to steal every joyful moment from our lives. We’re treated like strange creatures that should be shown no mercy. From destroying the happiest moment a family can have – the wedding of a son – to the slow killing of an entire people by denying their right to water, fuel, electricity, heating and food. Aren’t these basic needs that no human being should be denied?"
read full letter
