WHEN Mr Hassan Amin al-Bana gingerly steps on the accelerator of his bright yellow taxi, a strange smell wafts from the exhaust: It is the smell of deep-fried fastfood.

Faced with fuel shortages due to an Israeli blockade and a strike by Palestinian distributors protesting the restrictions, taxi drivers in the Gaza Strip are filling their tanks with cooking oil, reported Reuters.

They often scrounge leftover and used oil from roadside hawkers.

"It's not like driving with diesel. It takes time to get it going in the morning," said Mr Hassan Amin, 40.

"I know it's bad for my car, but I have to pay for food for my kids, so what can I do?"

Gaza City's petrol stations have been deserted for several weeks, but near the taxi depots are stacks of cartons of soya bean cooking oil.

The cooking oil is mixed with petrol, butane - a common fuel for cooking there - or turpentine.

The growing demand for cooking oil also means that many hawkers who sell items like falafel - the fried chick pea snack popular in the Middle East - now do a brisk trade in used oil.

MrYehya Karam, 21, said he sells about 70 cartons a day.

Other hawkers say they give the oilaway.

But a few are less than pleased with the result.

Falafel seller Ahmed al-Beltaji, who started selling his leftover oil to drivers about 10 days ago, said: "It makes the cars smell like a kitchen. You feel like falafel is following you."

1 MILLION LITRES UNDELIVERED

Israel has sharply cut the amount of fuel it pumps into the Gaza Strip as part of tightened restrictions on the enclave controlled by Islamist party Hamas, with whom Israel is in a state of conflict.

The Palestinian fuel association's strike this month, to protest the limits, has left a million litres of diesel and petrol undelivered.

While restrictions on cooking oil are less stringent than for fuel, supply is starting to run low, now that it is being used to power cars.

The price has also risen, from 6shekels ($2.37) a litre to 8shekels a litre a few days ago, reported The Age.

But it remains the obvious choice for many when petrol is 30shekels and litre and smuggled diesel 20shekels a litre - about threetimes what it would cost in Israel - according to reports.

As a result, many travel by donkey or bicycle. And only 50 to 60per cent of the city's taxis are still running.

The fuel shortage has also hit the area's already poor sanitation system, reported Reuters.

Yesterday, sewage gushed onto the streets when a main pump stopped working because diesel for backup generators ran out.

Don't try it at home

Tempted to do the same? Think twice. Ordinary vegetable oil is much thicker than diesel oil and will foul the fuel pumps and injectors of unmodified diesel tanks, reported Australian newspaper The Age.

The unburnt residue will eventually wear out the engine.

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 1, 2008.