The Gaza blockade entered its third year this June. This blockade has been characterized by the UN's most senior humanitarian official, John Holmes, as a form of collective punishment on the entire Gazan population.
The blockade was imposed by Israel after the Hamas organization took control over the security apparatus in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Since then, Gaza's largest and best equipped commercial crossing, Karni, has been shut down; the amount of imports allowed in have been reduced to approximately 20 percent of the level before the imposition of the blockade and limited, to a large extent, to food, medical and hygiene products; exports were entirely banned, except for a few exceptional truckloads of flowers.These measures have devastated the private sector economy and resulted in the closure of 95 percent of the previously operating businesses and the loss of 120,000 jobs. Moreover, the ongoing ban on the import of construction materials is preventing the reconstruction of 6,300 homes, destroyed or seriously damaged during the "Cast Lead" military offensive, as well as dozens of schools and health facilities.
The supply of electricity also continues to be severely constrained by the blockade due to insufficient industrial fuel supplies and the inability to import parts to repair damage to the electricity network from "Cast Lead". Since the beginning of 2009, the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) received only a few of truckloads of electric items, which were used to rehabilitate a limited number of electrical networks; there are currently 150 electrical materials (e.g. high voltage cables, transformers, wires and switches) at zero stock level and approximately 400 others in short supply.
During June, there were daily electrical outages ranging from 6 to 8 hours affecting 90 percent of the Gazan population, while the remaining 10 percent have not received electricity at all due to unrepaired damages incurred by the network during "Cast Lead".
With the heavy summer heat, these outages are directly affecting refrigerated foods and air conditioning supply in individual households, as well as the provision of essential services like water and sanitation, health care and medicine storage, and waste disposal.
As a result, public institutions are forced to rely extensively on backup generators fueled by diesel, which for the last seven months has been imported only through the tunnels under the border with Egypt, due to a ban imposed on its import through the official crossings (except for small quantities for hospitals).
The severity of this situation led 38 humanitarian organizations to issue this month a unified statement calling for the free and uninhibited access of all humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, in line with applicable international agreements.
The statement described the atmosphere of deprivation and the deepening sense of hopelessness and despair among people in Gaza as unacceptable and concluded that the men, women and children of Gaza should be shown an alternative of hope and dignity before the situation deteriorates further.
UNITED NATIONS
OCHA Report
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