The economic losses of the besieged Gaza Strip are estimated at $200 million due to the Israeli siege and the coronavirus, head of the Popular Committee Against Gaza Siege, MP Jamal Al-Khodari, revealed on Friday.
“These are the direct and indirect losses of the industrial, commercial, construction and tourism sectors,” Al-Khodari announced in a statement
He noted that almost all economic sectors are in recess now because of the coronavirus, adding to this the Israeli occupation siege and the shortage of cash.
As #Coronavirus Reaches #Gaza, the Besieged Strip on High Alert (PHOTOS) https://t.co/X3wEFwV5bA via @PalestineChron #PalestineLandDay pic.twitter.com/LsJWVjAZiT
— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) April 3, 2020
“This situation increased the poverty rate,” noting that the Palestinians in Gaza had no savings prior to the outbreak of the pandemic due to the 14-year-long strict Israeli siege.
In order to help solve the problems in Gaza, Al-Khodari asserted that the international community must put pressure on Israel to lift its siege on Gaza and that there must be joint international, Islamic and Arabic relief efforts to meet Gaza’s medical, food and humanitarian needs.
This is your chance to translate your solidarity into action by keeping the Palestine Chronicle active, disseminating important information about Palestine in both English and French to the world. https://t.co/tgB77etEhZ pic.twitter.com/w2i12eqO6a
— @palestinechron (@PalestineChron) April 3, 2020
Meanwhile, he called for the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to increase its food and medical aid.
Gaza, with a population of 2 million, has been under a hermetic Israeli siege since 2006, when the Palestinian group Hamas won the democratic legislative elections in occupied Palestine. Since then, Israel has carried out numerous bombing campaigns and several major wars, that resulted in the death of thousands of people.
(Palestine Chronicle, MEMO, Social Media)
