Power cuts melt Gaza’s ice cream stocks as heatwave boosts demand

Lengthy power cuts in the Gaza Strip have melted stocks of ice cream, forcing shops to stop selling it just when a heatwave has boosted demand.

With summer temperatures hitting 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit), ice cream is a popular and relatively inexpensive treat in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people squeezed into a narrow coastal strip between Israel and Egypt.

But owners of several groceries said they had to stop selling it even as a particularly hot summer has increased demand.

“Half of the ice cream melted. What should we do with it? Losses, losses,” supermarket owner, Fouad Awadallah told Reuters.