'Mekorot' is the name of Israel's national water company, to Gazans it means something else

Jihad Qasim is a barber and works from a tent on a street of ruined buildings. (ABC News)

On a dusty roadside in west Gaza City, Jihad Qasim tunes out the ceaseless rattle of the passing traffic and focuses on his clientele.

There's the kerbside consultation: "You want to grow it?" he asks one young customer. "Let it grow so we can do a curly hairstyle?"

And for an older client, empathy: "You go to work and come back empty-handed," he agrees.

Mr Qasim loses himself in his work, singing quietly as he skims his trimmer across a client's head, before he returns to one of Gaza's many problems.

Jihad Qasim pays for electricity that is provided by private generator owners, but even then, it is unreliable. (ABC News)

"You know, the electricity today is so expensive," he notes.

Twenty-eight shekels is about $14, which must be paid to private generator owners, or his trimmers can't be charged.

"If the electricity is there, you can work, finish, cut, but when it goes, you just stop."

Almost eight months after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended major hostilities in Gaza, although low-level conflict grinds on, daily life for the strip's 2.1 million residents is governed by the unpredictability of the essentials: power, water and food.

Daily life remains a struggle for Gaza's 2.1 million residents. (Reuters: Dawoud Abu Alkas)

Water pumped in from Israel runs through a network of damaged pipes and is unsafe to drink, or often, to wash with.

It's known as "Mekorot" — the name of Israel's national water company.

"Not even for washing clothes. When your wife washes the clothes, they get ruined," he says.

Médecins Sans Frontières delivers millions of litres of water each day inside Gaza. (Supplied: Medecins Sans Frontieres)

In December, Israel banned 37 international NGOs from operating in Gaza.

Those that remain, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Mercy Corps, spend a great deal of time and money treating water so it is safe to drink.

"We end up having to make a lot of the water with reverse osmosis water plants," MSF aid worker Craig Kenzie says.

Mr Kenzie says new machinery and many of the materials used to repair the treatment plants are blocked from entering Gaza.

Some aid agencies that are allowed to operate in Gaza treat water inside the territory and then truck it to distribution points. (Reuters: Mahmoud Issa)

"So these are things we've had to kind of Frankenstein together by salvaging parts to make sure that we still end up having water provided for the people," he says.

"Those all run on generator electricity, as well as a