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STORY: Wheat mill owners in the Palestinian Gaza Strip are struggling.

Prices have jumped by around 20%, largely following the fighting in Ukraine - which has closed off access to lower-priced Black Sea wheat.

It means the territory's five mills are finding it hard to compete with cheaper imported stock.

Abdel-Dayem Abu Awwad is general director of Gaza’s Al-Salam Mills Company.

He said he had to lay off most of their 54 workers and shorten working hours.

"The main reason for the rise in prices for wheat is the Russian-Ukraine war. We at mills of the Gaza Strip have storage of stock for a maximum of two to three months."

The Ukraine crisis has coincided with the start of Gaza’s own wheat harvest.

But its annual crop barely covers a week’s demand in the enclave - home to 2.3 million people, consuming up to 500 tonnes of flour a day.

Two-thirds of Gazans are dependent on aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which includes quarterly food distribution to refugee families.

Amani Ayyad lives in the Gaza Strip.

"When I hear that prices of flour have risen I hold my breath because I will not be able to buy it, if we have no flour at home what should we feed our children?"

Russia and Ukraine together make up almost a third of global wheat supplies.

The war has hurt deliveries and pushed up prices around the world - a higher price now felt in Gaza.