Gaza's economy blockade in figures
The Gaza Strip, a narrow sandy strip with about 370 square miles are home to 1.6 million people, is subject to a strict blockade by Israel since its takeover by the Islamist movement Hamas in June 2007, during a coup against the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called last May 18 that Israel end the blockade, in a resolution adopted at the annual meeting of its members. A month earlier, during a visit to the Palestinian enclave, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had said that the Israeli embargo was "not sustainable".
The last European Commission report on the Gaza Strip, published in March 2009, estimated the damage caused by the blockade on the territory's economy, all economic and social sectors together, to 514.3 million euros.GDP in the Palestinian territories has dropped 5% in 2006 to 3% in 2007 and 2.7% in 2008.
• Unemployment
The unemployment rate stood at 38.6% of the workforce in 2009, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics. It was 37% in 2008, according to the CIA, which places the Gaza Strip in 188th place worldwide in terms of number of unemployed.
• Poverty
70% of the population of Gaza lived below the poverty line in 2009, according to the CIA. UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) has estimated that the number of refugees living in extreme poverty in Gaza has tripled since the beginning of the blockade in 2007 of about 100,000 to about 300,000. On the other hand, food insecurity involved 60.5% of households last year, against 56% in 2008, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).In its report, the Commission stresses that more than 90% of the population depends on food aid from UN agencies. In February 2009, the UN had launched an appeal for emergency aid for the Gaza Strip, aiming to raise 613 million dollars (479 million euros) from the international community.
• Agriculture and fisheries
According to the report of the European Commission, 46% of farmland in the region were deemed "inaccessible" or where production was interrupted in late June 2009. Agricultural workers accounted for only 7.4% of the workforce in the fourth quarter of 2009, against 12.7% in the second quarter of 2007, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.The commercial organization Palestine Trade Center (Paltrade) said in a recent report that, without the restrictions imposed on the transport of goods, agricultural exports from the Gaza Strip could represent 2,300 tons of raspberries, 55 million cut flowers and 714 tons cherry tomatoes per year. Fishing has also suffered. Since January 2009, the areas accessible to fishermen were again reduced, to 3 nautical miles offshore. Consequently, the total fish catch has dropped by 47% between 2008 and 2009, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture.
• Industry, trade and services
According to the report of the organization Paltrade, 95% of 3750 plants in the Gaza Strip have been closed or destroyed, putting some 40,000 unemployed workers (94% of their employees). In 2009, the industrial sector weighed only 5% of the workforce, according to the CIA.Paltrade adds that the 5% of factories still operating in the Palestinian territory that does not rotate between 20 and 50% of their total production capacity. The food industry, for example, has recorded losses of $ 37.1 million in 2009 due to a complete halt to exports. She had only 16 factories last year, against 30 in 2008 and 100 in 2005. Other sectors have been severely affected, particularly the construction, energy, transport and telecommunications. Thus, some 10,000 subscribers have seen their fixed telephone services interrupted, while 330,000 mobile phone users have been affected by these cuts, notes the European Commission.
• Infrastructure
The infrastructure of Gaza has been devastated by lack of materials and construction equipment.A lack which stems directly from the blockade imposed on the territory, "said United Nations Program for Development (UNDP). More than a year after the military operation Cast Lead conducted by the IDF in the Gaza Strip, three-quarters of infrastructure damaged or destroyed are still not rebuilt or rehabilitated, says a UNDP report. The UN program was estimated last year that the cost of damage caused on the roads and bridges in the Gaza Strip rose to 18.6 million euros. His report also highlights that 82.5% of schools are still in ruins.
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