Shops in the Gaza Strip are overflowing with food these days after Israel eased its blockade, but chickens, sheep and goats of the coastal enclave aren’t sharing in the new bounty. According to an Agriculture Ministry official in Gaza, a severe shortage of animal feed is threatening mass starvation of livestock.

Zakariyah Kafarneh, head of veterinary services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, blamed Israel for the shortage, saying the Gaza Strip was in need of 16,000 tons of feed every month. Israel has been letting in only half of that quantity, he said.

"If the situation continues as it is for a few days more, the effect on Gaza's livestock will be catastrophic," Ibrahim Al-Qidra, deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza's Hamas government, told The Media Line. "We expect that half of Gaza's livestock, including poultry, will die."

Livestock is an important part of the economy in Gaza, where what little industry there was has been suffocated by the blockade Israel imposed after the Muslim fundamentalist Hamas seized control of the area in 2007. Israel, which says it blocks goods and people from moving in and out of Gaza weaken Hamas and deter terror attacks, has loosened its strictures since last June under international pressure.

Al-Qidra said animal feed is imported to the strip from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and neighboring Arab countries, but Israel maintains full control over the border crossings into Gaza.

Israel formerly allotted two working days every week for the delivery of animal feed into Gaza through the Karni border crossing, enough to cover the needs of the enclave’s livestock population. But, following international pressure to let building materials into Gaza for United Nations-monitored projects, now one of those two days is dedicated to shipping in gravel. The supply of food for livestock is now half of what it was previously.

Supplies are transferred to Gaza through other crossing points, but both the feed and gravel are delivered by conveyor belt for security reasons – and Karni is the only crossing with the facilities.

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said any shortage was due to Hamas’ refusing to allow feed and other bulk items to reach Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which he attributed to private “economic interests.”

“Any claim of intentional harm [by Israel] to livestock is false and is aimed at undermining humanitarian policy toward the Gaza Strip,” the spokesman said in an e-mailed statement.

"Israel is waging a new war against the Gaza Strip," Al-Qidra said, adding that during Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip two years ago it liquidated half of Gaza's livestock through vast destruction of farms.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says $180 million of trees, fields, livestock, greenhouses and nurseries were destroyed during operation Cast Lead. The Palestinian Authority estimated 15% of agricultural land was destroyed.

Sari Bashi, director of Gisha, an Israeli non-governmental organization that monitors the movement of people and goods to and from the Gaza Strip, said that since June 2007, Israel has allowed aggregate materials such as wheat, chickpeas and animal feed to enter Gaza only through conveyer belts. Since mid-October, Israel has added gravel, thereby pushing the bottleneck at Karni to its limits.

"Rather than expanding capacity at the crossings, Israel is asking Gaza residents to choose between construction material and animal feed," she told The Media Line.

Relief officials and human rights groups say that Gaza’s animals aren’t the only ones suffering and that Israel hasn’t done enough to ensure basic necessities reach the enclave.

"The plight of the people is desperate," John Ging, director of operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works (UNRWA), told reporters in New York Tuesday. He added that 80% of Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants is still dependant on aid. “The donor community is no longer able to meet the financial costs of this level of aid dependency,” he added.

A coalition of 22 human rights groups, including Oxfam, Amnesty International and Save the Children, harshly criticized Israel, saying that little change has been felt on the ground. The report, titled "Dashed Hoped: Continuation of the Gaza Blockade," called for increased international pressure on Israel to ensure "an immediate, unconditional and complete lifting of the blockade."

Ging of UNRWA said that only 7% of its needs in construction and non-consumer materials needed are being met by Israel.