Friday, August 5, 2011

Gaza in grip of abject poverty

PressTV - Gaza in grip of abject poverty:

Wed Aug 3, 2011 6:9PM GMT
Yousef al-Helou, Press TV, Gaza

"People in Gaza especially those whose homes were destroyed during Israel's 22-day offensive on Gaza at the turn of 2009, are frustrated by the international communities' assumption that the siege has been lifted.

Israel announced in June 2011 following its deadly attack on the Mavi Marmara -an aid flotilla bound for Gaza- that it has eased its blockade, but reality on the ground shows it is still in place
Families like this who are forced to live on food-handouts due to the unprecedented level of unemployment, have not been able to re-build their homes.

Everyone here says that the economy would improve fairly quickly once the blockade was fully lifted. Top of their list was reconstruction and the import of goods and raw materials needed for hundreds of factories. Great number of households in the besieged costal territory cannot work to support their families. An UNRWA official said that the number of poor people in Gaza living on just over 1 dollar a day, has tripled to 300,000 since the blockade was imposed in 2007.

Kamal who is a journalist, lost his son and home during the war. He is still living in a temporarily house made out of clay.

After the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza, housing and rental prices increased to unaffordable levels, with thousands of houses demolished and homes damaged, and while there are a small few with some wealth in Gaza, the staggering majority are impoverished.



News and Reports August 5, 2011

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