In the second quarter of this year, there was a dramatic deterioration in the employment situation in Gaza, the most serious data since the end of Israel’s brutal Operation Protective Edge. Unemployment in the Gaza Strip rose to 44% compared to 41.1% in the first quarter. Among women it increased from 67.4% to 71.5%, while…
The number of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who manage to secure a permit from Israel and travel through the Erez Crossing continues to drop. Data from August reveals that the decline in the number of Palestinians exiting Gaza, in all categories continued last month. (Exits are mostly for patients requiring medical treatment unavailable in…
Members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Palestine (DPAL) urged on Friday, September 22, the European Union to suspend association agreements with Israel due to the latter’s persistent violations of international law. The delegation included Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the Confederal Group of the European United Left / Nordic Green…
The Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation (GEDCO) announced last week that two of the three power supply lines from Egypt were back up and running. On September 5, GEDCO announced that the third line had been repaired as well. Together, these lines supply the Gaza Strip with 23 Megawatts of electricity. The lines were out of…
Five months have passed since the Rafah Crossing, controlled by Egypt, was last open to persons exiting from the Gaza Strip. This is the longest consecutive stretch of time the crossing has been closed for Gazans seeking to travel abroad since 2007. The names of approximately 30,000 Gaza residents meeting Egyptian criteria for travel appear…
New draconian restrictions have been instituted for the few Palestinians who still have no option but to exit Gaza through the Erez Crossing Point into Israel as a place of transit: As of August 1, such persons are forbidden from exiting the Strip carrying electronic devices other than a cellular phone. In addition, Palestinians not…
The number of exits by Palestinians through the Erez Crossing, between Israel and the Gaza Strip, dropped by 55 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2016. The monthly average was only 6,302 exits in the first half of 2017, compared to a monthly average of more than…
The inventory of medicines in the Gaza Strip is very low, with a third of all necessary pharmaceutical drugs and more than 270 items of medical equipment needed for surgery currently being unavailable. Patients who are particularly affected by this situation are those suffering from cystic fibrosis, cancer patients and 240 infants with developmental problems.…
Unemployment in the Gaza Strip rose by about half a percent during the first quarter of 2017, reaching 41.1%. The unemployment rate in the final quarter of 2016 was 40.6%. Gaza’s unemployment has been higher than 40% since early 2014. A worrying trend observed in the figures for the first quarter of 2017 is the…
United Nations humanitarian organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories appealed on Monday, July 3, for funding to address the deteriorating situation in the besieged Gaza Strip. According to a statement published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the agencies requested some $25 million in funding during a meeting with diplomats…