Just a brief walk around any of the remaining shops or street vendors in Gaza City shows how depleted everything is, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mehmud reports.

“Many basic goods are gone, off the shelves,” he adds. “Whatever is available is not enough for people’s needs.”

Mehmud reports that goods, including cooking oil, rice, flour and other food supplies, are too expensive. “They used to be common staples for people, but not any more.”

“It’s pushing a whole population that is already desperate to the brink of catastrophe,” Mehmud reports.