"Stuck here out of gas . . ."

". . . out here on the Gaza Strip"

So go the lyrics of 'River Euphrates', a song by one of the great bands, The Pixies. I wish I knew why they chose to write those lyrics in 1988.

They couldn't have known what a regular occurrence running out of gas would become when Israel began to tighten its closure of the Gaza Strip in the early 1990s.

Indeed, the scene at this gas station was chaotic today, with cars stretching back at least half a kilometre and horns blowing. As we walked past, things were becoming heated between a number of men, as it became clear that the gas supplies were nearing their end.