As most of the rest of the Islamic world welcomes Ramadan with festive treats and family get-togethers, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip wearily brace for another holiday under a crippling Israeli blockade. Israel has sealed off the impoverished territory from all but a trickle of humanitarian aid since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, and it is during the holidays that weary residents say they feel the sanctions the most.
"Honestly, I don't even feel like we welcome Ramadan, because year after year things go from bad to worse, with life becoming harder and more expensive," says Dina, a university student shopping in a Gaza City market.
The Muslim holy month during which the faithful fast from sunup to sundown is normally a festive time of lavish nightly feasts, holiday treats, and family reunions - all of which have become harder for most Gazans to afford.
The Israeli sanctions on Gaza after the takeover by Hamas - which won legislative elections in early 2006 - coupled with the rise in world prices have resulted in widespread shortages and sent food and fuel costs soaring.
"Ramadan this year is like any other month, because you don't see any of the things that make it special," says Mohammad Abu Sultan, a father of four shopping for decorative Ramadan lanterns.
"Every year I buy my children lanterns but I was shocked this year because the price has almost doubled," he said, adding that his family is cutting back on holiday treats and even limiting their cooking to conserve fuel.
Others are resorting to more creative alternatives.
"My father went to get me a lantern in the market but did not find one this Ramadan," says Ahmad, a 9-year-old boy. "I'm going to have to make one out of a cardboard box and put a candle in it."
Israel has kept the sanctions in place despite a two-month-old truce with Palestinian militants which has all but halted rocket fire on southern Israel in a bid to keep pressure on Hamas, which the West considers a terror group. Under the terms of the truce, Israel was to ease its siege of the impoverished territory.
The blockade, along with rising world food and fuel prices, has forced Gaza families who muddled through past Ramadans to cut more corners, even limiting family visits because of the cost of fuel and public transportation.
"People who would normally buy 10 packages of qamreddin [a sticky apricot-flavored treat] will not buy a single package this year," says Majid al-Safdi, a local merchant.
"The economic situation for people in Gaza has gone from bad to worse. Israel is treating us in a shameful way because it only allows us to import a small amount of those things that are special to Ramadan," he says.
Israel has raised the number of trucks carrying food and basic goods it allows into Gaza - which has a population of 1.5 million - over the past month to over 180 trucks a day, both because of Ramadan and the start of the new school year.
"The amount of cattle that have been going in have been increasing over the past week, and we also have been facilitating the delivery of sweets and candies," Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner told AFP.
But the shortages remain, and consumers say profiteers have taken advantage of the situation, smuggling goods in through a vast network of tunnels between Gaza and Egypt and selling them at exorbitant prices.
"Some of these traders did not have anything until very recently," Dina, the student, says. "Now you find all kinds of things but the prices are unimaginable. It's harvest time for these people, and we are the victims."
However, the Israeli sanctions seem to have had little impact on their intended target. Hamas, more than a year into the siege, remains Gaza's unchallenged ruler.
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