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The economy has been paralysed, there are severe shortages of consumer goods, electricity is sporadic, water supplies are scarce and a sewage crisis has spread disease. How do the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza, which is only a third the size of Co Louth, live under Israeli military blockade asks Eoin Butler

WHEN I REACH the end of the cool, dimly lit corridor, I set my bags down on the ground and call out, quietly at first, but then at the top of my voice. "Hello . . . HELLO!?" The words echo around the spacious hangar. Eventually, a small trapdoor in the concrete opens, and a toothless man in a luminous vest beckons me through. I place my luggage on the trolley and we walk in silence down another winding gangway, until I emerge, blinking, into the dazzling sunlight.