Gaza: Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrate to demand the lifting of the siege

Gaza: Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrate to demand the lifting of the siege

 Hundreds of people demonstrated on Tuesday at an Israeli military post in the northern Gaza Strip to demand an end to Israel´s blockade of the territory for more than 12 years.

The demonstration took place at the invitation of the trade union bodies in Gaza and the High Authority for the Marches of Return, opposite the Beit Hanoun checkpoint, "Erez Crossing" as the occupation calls it, under the control of the occupation in the northern Gaza Strip under the slogan "Unionists Against Siege".

The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and banners reading "No to the unjust siege imposed for 12 years", "The siege of Gaza is the biggest crime against humanity".

Raed Abu Hassanein said in a statement on behalf of the trade union frameworks in Gaza, that the demonstration came to attract the attention of the world "the crime of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, which led to serious repercussions at all levels and increased unemployment and poverty."

The statement called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities to stand in the face of the suffocating siege imposed on the Palestinian people, which completely disrupted trade union work in all its fields.

He said that the Palestinian reconciliation contributes positively to alleviate the burdens of the siege and confront all attempts to continue the division in the interests of the occupation, calling on the Palestinian Authority to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinians in the face of challenges and dangers that afflict the Palestinian cause.

Jamil Alian, a member of the Higher Committee for the Marches of Return, criticized the international community´s failure to resolve the Palestinian issue and end the occupation of the Palestinian territories. "What prevents UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres from coming to Gaza to see the Israeli siege imposed on it?"

Alian said in a speech during the demonstration, that solving the Palestinian issue and ending the occupation is what provides security and safety in the region and the world.

Israel has imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million people since mid-2007, after Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip by force following rounds of fighting with Palestinian Authority security services.

This situation cast a shadow over the economic and living conditions in Gaza, where the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in a report, that the unemployment rate in the sector reached about 52 per cent.

The report pointed out that about 83% of the population of the Gaza Strip live below the poverty line, due to the deterioration of political and economic conditions in addition to the tight Israeli blockade on the Strip.