$ 1.5 billion Gaza losses this year

$ 1.5 billion Gaza losses this year

• 2020-12-24 21:30:00
• 25 views

The People's Committee to confront the blockade in the Gaza Strip announced today, Thursday, that the losses of the sector due to the Israeli blockade amounted to 1.5 billion dollars during the current year that is nearing its end.

Jamal Al-Khudari, head of the committee, said in a press statement that this year was the most dangerous ever, with the continuation of the Israeli blockade for the fourteenth year in a row, which brought the humanitarian, health and economic situation into a difficult catastrophic situation.

Al-Khudari stated that the blockade and Corona have caused a threat to the food security of about 70% of families in Gaza, while more than 85% live below the poverty line, and unemployment rates have risen to 60%, indicating that more than 350,000 workers are unemployed.

He pointed to the acute shortage of medical consumables, medicines and respirators, which represents a severe stress on the lives of the two million Palestinians living in Gaza.

He mentioned that 80% of the factories have been closed since the beginning of the blockade, while the rate of production in the factories that are operating has decreased to 20%, due to the occupation and the blockade, preventing the entry of raw materials necessary for industry and attacks and restricting the movement of import and export, while the economic situation of day laborers and shopkeepers has deteriorated. And workshops.

And he indicated that dozens of shops, institutions and companies closed their doors during the year 2020 due to their inability to work in light of the economic stalemate and the decline in income levels and the production process is declining very much.

The head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege in the Gaza Strip said that all this constituted a blow to the Palestinian economy and a blow to the Palestinian families.

Al-Khudari called on the free world to move quickly and urgently in an ethical, humanitarian and legal movement to save Gaza and stand by it, noting that the world is moving to help any country whose health system has collapsed due to the Corona epidemic, while closing its eyes to what is happening in Gaza and what things have reached.

He said, "What awaits Gaza in the new year 2021 in light of the current data, and if the humanitarian, health and economic conditions continue in this way with the continuation of the blockade, it cannot be imagined or imagined."

He added, "The world should not wait for what the people of Gaza are waiting for, but rather move urgently and vigorously to save what can be saved."

Al-Khudari stressed the need to lift the siege on Gaza because that is the main gateway to overcoming the current serious crises, and this requires an international effort, and a unified Palestinian plan capable of overcoming this dangerous situation that the humanitarian situation has reached.