A ceasefire may be in place, but extensive damage to Gaza's agriculture now means that the 1.4 million people of the Gaza Strip face "acute shortages" of food, says the UN.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization announced Friday that nearly all 10,000 small farms in Gaza have been damaged and many completely destroyed following attacks by Israel that started on 27 December. Some 27,500 people that depend on farming or fishing have lost land, crops, equipment, or animals.

Meanwhile an FAO brief says shelling destroyed greenhouses, poultry barns, feed stores and animals (pdf format).

The tiny fishing harbour near Gaza City was "devastated" by naval barrages, says Damiani, while even in places untouched by tanks or shelling, crops and animals left untended have suffered.

Gazan farmers mainly grow fruit and vegetables, which in the past they exported to earn money for staple foods. When Gaza's border crossings were closed by Israel in 2008, food exports, and earnings, stopped.