'Dying but breathing': Gaza residents grow increasingly desperate

Family and friends of people living in Gazasay they remain trappedunder worsening conditions with only sporadic means of communicatingwith the outside world as Israel continuesto blanket the area with airstrikesin retaliation for the Hamas attacks that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead.

Bushra Khalidi, who works for Oxfam Canada in Ramallah in the West Bank, told CBCNews on Thursday that Gaza residents are facing growing hardship and uncertainty after the territory's only power plant ran out of fuel and shut down Wednesday.

Reaching family in Gaza often means anxiously waiting for replies on cellphone messaging apps.

"We've been desperately waiting for the blue ticks on WhatsApp because it means that their phone is on, and we can assume that probably they're alive,"Khalidi said.

She said she has two nephews in Gaza who are very youngand have lived their entire lives under the Israeli blockade that began in 2007 as the Islamist groupHamas consolidated its control of the territory.

On Monday, Israel announced a complete siege of Gaza, cutting off supply routes for essentials such asfuel and food.

"Since yesterday afternoon, the power plant shut down at 2 p.m., meaningthere's no electricity, there's no water, no phone lines, there's no internet," Khalidi said.

"Those that do have a little internet or electricityhave private generators that they're refuelling themselves with fuel supplies they probably had before this started."

The total blockade was imposed after Hamas's conflict with Israel suddenly intensified early Saturday as militants fired thousands of rockets from Gaza and sent fighters into southern Israel.

WATCH |Gaza is a 'pressure cooker,' says activist:

Gaza resident says region has become 'pressure cooker'

11 months ago

Duration 3:41

Isam Hammad, a self-described peace activist and manager of a medical equipment company in Gaza, says he considers the Hamas attack that began hostilities last weekend to be the result of the 'pressure cooker' Gazans have lived in due to inaction on the application of United Nations resolutions.

As of Thursday afternoon, Israel's military said the attacks by Hamas have killed more than 1,200 people. The Gaza Ministry of Health said more than 1,500 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Isam Hammad, aGaza resident and self-described peace activist,said the airstrikeshave been"something unbelievable" even for aterritory whoseinhabitants have been "in a pressure cooker since 2007" because of Israel's blockade, with poverty and high unemployment.

"All the borders are blocked," Hammadsaid. "This is the situation: it's dying but breathing. And with2.2 million people,what do you expectfrom them?"

WATCH | Suffering under a siege:

Hamas attacked because of Israel's 'illegal' siege, Israeli journalist says

11 months ago

Duration 1:55

Columnist Gideon Levy fears a bloodbath of innocent civilians in Gaza if Israel reacts without moral and legal limits. He claims Israel made Gaza a cage, an experiment in human beings, that the international community normalized.

'Nobody can leave'

Khalidi said the siege is affecting everyone.

"Nobody can leave Gaza. Nobody,"Khalidisaid. "There are international workers stuck in Gaza ... and it's a complete military war zone."

Israel saysthe siege will continue until Hamas releases the roughly 150people who were taken hostage during the attack.

WATCH | Warnings mean little whenthere's nowhere to go:

Those told to leave Gaza say there's nowhere to go

11 months ago

Duration 4:05

Canadian Asia Mathkour, who lives in Gaza with her family, says she hopes Canada can help them get out soon, and hopes that they aren't left stranded and waiting for days to hear from somebody. She says everyone wants to leave, but wonders, 'Where are we going to go?'

Dr. Hammam Alloh, an internal medicine physician in Gaza City, saidIsrael's blockade means doctors must constantly manage shortages of drugs, blood products,water and power.

He said the clinic where he works has set aside medication for one to two weeks for patients who need a continuoussupply, andpatients are afraid they won't get what they need.

"There are lot of patients who need to be seen at the clinic, but I can't see them all, so I try to treat them by phone," he said.

WATCH | Doctor in Gaza struggles to care for family and patients:

Doctor in Gaza says supply blockade means 'it's a mess everywhere'

11 months ago

Duration 14:26

Dr. Hammam Alloh, an internal medicine physician in Gaza City, says Israel's blockade means doctors must constantly manage shortages of drugs, blood products, fresh water and power.

In addition, Alloh is strugglingto look after elderly patients, his wifeand their three children, ages five, fourand four months old. He said he's been tryingto reassure his older two children and keep them busy, playing games.

"I keep telling themthereare clashes, problems, but they'll be fine ... and that the explosions might stop."

'I refuse to think about'

Reem Sultan in London, Ont., was able to reach her nephew in Gaza by phone on Wednesday and the call left her feeling "very distraught." He told her,"The bombing is happening everywhere."

Sultanvisitedrelatives in Gaza just last year. The family has been scarred by war even before this most recent explosion of violence. Sultan'suncle was killed in an airstrike in a previous wave of fightingbetween Israel and Hamas.

WATCH | Fearing for family trapped in Gaza:

What its like to have family trapped in Gaza

11 months ago

Duration 0:01

The anxiety is non-stop for Canadians with families trapped in Gaza as Israel mounts an offensive against Hamas. CBCs Ellen Mauro was with Reem Sultan in London, Ont., when she finally got through to her nephew for an update.

"I refuse to think about it. I can't take any more," she said when asked if she wonders what will happen if the Israeli military launches a ground offensive.

Canadian Asia Mathkour, who has livedin Gaza with her family since 2014, told CBC News that just getting from one place to another in the territory is fraught with danger. She said she would take the first flight home, butthere's no way out of Gaza.

WATCH |Aid workers in Gaza have little to work with:

Aid workers struggling to help civilians in Gaza

11 months ago

Duration 1:01

Civilians in Gaza are facing an increasingly dire situation, says Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and former UN Special Envoy for conflict resolution. NRC is trying to find shelter and deliver cash aid to families who have lost everything but as the conflict between Hamas and Israel escalates, it's 'very, very difficult.'

"Everything is demolished,every block, every neighbourhood, so I don't know how they will be able to take us out," she said on Wednesday.

She said she hopes officials in Canada won'tleave her stranded much longer.

The mother of twoand her family moved to a hotel after her home in Gaza was bombed, butnow, the hotelis also no longer liveablebecause of airstrikes.

"My neighbourhood is all destroyed," she said. "We are just waiting, to be honest, to be heard, to be seen.

"Right now there is no way we can leave Gaza."

Mathkourwas overcome with anxiety while talking to the CBCand had to pause because she thought she heard warships firing at Gaza.

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Jolysaid Canadian military flights will be arriving in Tel Avivby the end of this weekto evacuate Canadians from Israel to Athens.

The government has said it isworking to finda way to get Canadians who can't make it to Tel Aviv out of Gaza and the West Bank, possibly through Jordan.