We followed five people in Gaza from dawn to dusk – this is what the headlines don’t tell us

Behind the stories of bombings and mass deaths, the everyday challenges facing Palestinians living under siege portray a quieter tragedy we rarely hear

What does it take to make a morning cup of tea in Gaza?

For Alaa Hessi, in her final month of pregnancy, this small ritual begins with a calculation of gas rations. Her family gets a ration of 6kg of gas every three months – enough to heat a pot for 18 precious minutes a day. That’s needed for cooking – so for tea, a fire must be built instead.

For 12-year-old Ramadan, the process begins with a hunt for anything flammable, in an environment where there is almost no wood left. He scouts through the sand dunes where he lives, snaps off a few twigs from a thorn bush, and feeds the flames with pieces of discarded plastic that wash up on the beach.

Before you boil the kettle, though, there is the matter of the water – with none running, the question is whether a water truck visits your area that day, and if not, how far you must walk to find it. Then there is transporting that water – how will Ramadan store it, given all of his family’s large water containers have been chewed through by rats? And how does a small boy carry the weight of it – enough liquid for a family to wash, brush teeth, cook with and drink through the next 30C summer day?