Jamal Alkhoudary, the head of the popular committee dedicated to breaking the siege on Gaza, said 2016 has been the “worst year” as far as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip in concerned, according to Safa news agency.
After ten years of an Israeli-Egyptian siege, and international reports suggesting that situation has reached a critical point, life for the two million inhabitant of the Strip has become unbearable.
Alkhoudary stressed in a press statement that, “the siege, the closure of crossings and restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip, especially on construction materials have killed all efforts to reconstruct what the Israeli occupation has destroyed during the 2014 offensive.”
He noted that these measures have delayed the construction process with 70,000 Palestinians still displaced in the devastated region. He added that 9,000 out of 12,000 houses completely destroyed during the last war in 2014 have not been rebuild yet.
#غزة عام 2016 الأسوأ بسبب استمرار الحصار الاسرائيلي وأرقام صادمة ورهيبة تلزم التحرك الفوري برفع الحصار وانهاء معاناة تتفاقم لمليوني مواطن
— النائب جمال الخضري (@jamalkhoudary) December 23, 2016
(Translation: 2016 in Gaza has been the worst due to the continuing Israeli siege and the shocking figures which require immediate steps to lift the siege and end the suffering of two million people.)
Alkhoudary has called on international donors to meet their promises and pledges, as the reconstruction of Gaza “is a moral, legal and humanitarian commitment, in addition to pressuring the Israeli occupation to allow construction materials (into the area).”
According to Alkhoudary 80% of Gaza’s population lives below the poverty line and 60% of young people are unemployed, “in a dramatic and critical increase of unemployment rates.” Moreover, he stated that 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are aid-dependent and most people live on two dollars per day.
2016: Gaza’s Year in Sufferinghttps://t.co/znKEu5gCQf#Palestine#IsraeliRegime pic.twitter.com/MXPxLU5xeb
— Alwaght (@EnglishAlwaght) December 24, 2016
Alkhoudary concluded by emphasizing the Palestinian people’s “steadfastness despite the difficult humanitarian situation.”
(SAFA, PC, Social Media)
