JERUSALEM, July 7, 2010 (WAFA)- Despite the Israeli government decision to “ease the siege” of Gaza, Mnauwar Al Ra’i and her family will remain dependent on food vouchers distributed by Oxfam and the World Food Programme with local partner Ma’an Centre for Development for as long as they remain jobless and without a stable source of income.

Eid, the husband of Mnauwar (seen here surrounded by four of her eight children in their house in Zeitoun), lost his job at an Israeli factory manufacturing solar-powered heaters in 2002, when Israeli authorities banned Palestinians in Gaza from working in Israel in the wake of the Second Intifada. Nowadays Eid does irregular jobs for the municipality, but his income is far less than what he used to make eight years ago. With no cooker and fridge in her kitchen, Mnauwar uses firewood to cook. The food aid enables her to raise some savings to keep her children – three of whom suffered from anaemia – on a nutritious diet, but opportunities for self-subsistence remain in short supply.

“Any kind of aid is helpful right now as it would help us save the little money that we have for our children, although this is not right and we shouldn’t be dependent on foreign aid,” Mnauwar says. “What we need is work and the opportunity to make a living, to support our children at school and give them a future.”