Food shortages
Photo: AFP
Calm returns to Gaza
Gazans enjoy calm after weeks of fighting, but many fear bleak future
A week after Hamas took control of Fatah-controlled government compounds in the Strip, life in Gaza City seems to be returning to normal.
The relative silence that pervades the streets after weeks of clashes between the rival factions can be deceptive. Gaza residents have nothing but calm in the aftermath of Hamas' takeover, as a humanitarian crisis is looming on the horizon.
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"We have no money. I am in the market to buy only necessities," said Mohammad Srour, a taxi driver in the city. "Most people live day by day and few people are storing food, because few have money."
Ismail Kahlout, a fruit seller in a local market, says that sales are down 95 percent. "What costs 10 shekels is being sold for five. I just want people to buy. Despite the reduction in prices people hardly buy a thing. I barely sell fiver percent of what I used to in normal times," he said.
"It is true that there is a fear of food shortages but when people have no money this fear is not translated into a rush for food storage. I don't know what the future holds, inshallah it will be alright," he added.
Ismail added that although people feel more safe now that weeks street fighting have come to an end, many fear a bleak future awaits this tiny coastal territory whose population largely depends on foreign aid and supplies of food, water and energy from Israel.
'Better chance to infiltrate into Israel'
On Thursday 300 tons of Jordanian food supplies were shipped to the Gaza Strip through transit crossings along the border with Israel.
The question that many are asking is whether Israel will allow Gazans to cross into the West Bank. Many flocked to crossings along the Gaza-Israel border last week hoping the Jewish State will allow them to cross its territory to escape the fighting.
"In the West Bank there is a better chance to find work, not because there are many businesses but because there is a better chance to infiltrate into Israel to seek work," said Srour.
President Mahmoud Abbas called Hamas "murderous terrorists" in a televised speech aired on Wednesday night and accused the Islamic group of having plotted to assassinate him.
Also Wednesday, the PLO's executive committee called on Abbas to declare fresh presidential and legislative elections.
Abbas dismissed a unity government between his Fatah faction and Hamas last week, appointing instead an emergency government of technocrats.
Israel and the United States welcomed the move and lifted an aid embargo imposed on the Palestinian Authority last year when Hamas rose to power.
Israel transferred on Friday $400 million of withheld tax rebates it collected on behalf of the Palestinians in a bid to bolster the new government.
