Gaza: continuous hardship for Gazans after four years of closure

29-06-2011 Photo gallery

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on earth with one of the world’s fastest growing populations. Today, fifty per cent of its 1.5 million residents are under 18. Unfortunately, these youngsters lack the perspective of a dignified life or future.

- Rafah city, Southern Gaza Strip. Unemployed Palestinians spend the day sitting in a cafe. As long as the economy in Gaza is not revived, unemployment will remain high and people will have little purchasing power.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02342
Video: Broken family ties
The economic hardship is exacerbated by the loss of economic sectors that represented a significant source of income such as textiles and agriculture. The unemployment rate currently stands at nearly 40 per cent and will remain high due to the limited economic recovery. Due to the restrictions on imports – especially building materials – health and sanitation infrastructures are seriously affected. The limitations and the almost absolute ban on exports imposed by Israel make economic recovery impossible.
The easing of the closure in June 2010 has had little impact on the daily lives of the residents in Gaza who continue to face many challenges as a result of the collapse of previously prosperous branches of the economy. Increased poverty adds to the lack of freedom of movement for Gazans. More imports and particularly exports are needed to help improve the current situation. Israel retains effective control over the Gaza strip, in particular the movement of people and goods. It has the responsibility to allow the civilian population to lead as normal a life as possible.
- Rafah city, Southern Gaza Strip. Sarah, a nine-year-old Palestinian girl waits for permission from the Egyptian security to cross the Rafah-Egypt border. The Rafah crossing point is vitally important to Gazans, since it is the Gaza Strip's only crossing with a country other than Israel. The Rafah crossing point between Gaza Strip and Egypt started operating – with some restrictions – at the end of May 2011 on a permanent basis for the first time in four years.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02343
- Rafah city, southern Gaza strip. Kareem Joda, a seven-year-old Palestinian boy works in an open area at the Gaza International Airport in Rafah, collecting rubble from the ruins of destroyed houses. The area along the fence with Israel – extending 300 metres into Gaza – has been declared a no-go zone by the Israel Defense Forces.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02344
- Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Farmers thresh wheat during a harvest in Khozaa, eastern Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Over the years, access to land suitable for agriculture has diminished due to the restrictions in the imposed along the fence with Israel, in addition to the levelling of land and destruction of trees by the Israel Defense Forces.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02345
- Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Fayza El farra, a fifty-year-old Palestinian woman cooks food for her kids at her kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Many families suffer from the consequences of this closure with coping mechanisms stretched to the limit.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02346
- Gaza city. Palestinian fishermen sit around with no work due to the restrictions on access to the sea, which has been set by Israel at three nautical miles off the shore of the Strip. The continuing naval blockade affects the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen and their families.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02334
- Wadi Gaza. Sewage pumped into the sea, Wadi Gaza, central Gaza Strip. Every day, thousands of litres of untreated wastewater are dumped into the Wadi Gaza River. The polluted water snakes through urban areas on its way to the sea, jeopardizing the health of the many families living on its banks, contaminating the aquifer, the coastline and endangering biodiversity.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02335
- Rafah city. Palestinian child Ahmed Mekdad holding a jerry can before buying drinking water from the water truck. Gaza faces a serious shortage of fresh water. Much of the water from the Gaza aquifer is undrinkable, with nitrate and chloride levels up to seven times above the level set by the World Health Organization.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02336
- Rafah city. Palestinian children stand in front of a house affected by shelling and shooting during the armed conflict at the end of December 2008. Many families have not been able to begin to rebuild their homes and resume their lives due to the ban on construction materials.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02337
- Khan Younis. Safeya Al-Najjar and her husband, Fawzi Al-Najjar harvest their land near the Israeli border area in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. The high price or lack of some farming inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides, and the lack of export opportunities have weighed heavily upon this sector.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02338
- Khan Younis. Palestinian farmer Fawzi Al-Najjar looks at the Israeli fence in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Access to land suitable for agriculture is affected by restrictions imposed along the fence with Israel, in addition to the levelling of land and destruction of trees by the Israel Defense Forces.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02333
- Rafah city. Hisham Shahwan picking flowers grown for export in Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip. Despite media statements regarding the export of certain cash crops such as carnations and strawberries, the actual level of exports from the Gaza Strip remains close to zero.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02339
- Rafah city. Women preparing flowers for export. Although they receive very little income from this work, it helps them to fight unemployment and help their households. In the Gaza Strip, the unemployment rate currently stands at nearly 40 per cent. It will remain high due to the lack of economic recovery.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02340
- Rafah city. Palestinians smuggling goods through the tunnel along the border with Egypt. Due to the closure and limited access through the Rafah crossing, Gazans have no alternative but to risk their lives smuggling goods through underground tunnels from Egypt. At the end of May 2011, the Rafah crossing resumed operating on a permanent basis for the first time in four years.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02341
- Gaza Strip, Erez Crossing. A Palestinian baby and his mother walk through the tunnel leading to Erez crossing to receive medical treatment in Israel. The current Israeli permit system, combined with rigorous controls, means that only a handful of people who need medical attention are allowed to leave either through the Rafah crossing into Egypt or through the Erez crossing into Israel.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02332
- Shifa hospital, Gaza city. An engineer from the Ministry of Health in Gaza stands among broken haemodialysis machines. The lack of medical spare parts and medical equipment results in an inability to offer the most basic of diagnostic services in Gaza health facilities.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02347
- Shifa hospital, Gaza city. Empty shelves at the Ministry of Health central drug store. The health sector in Gaza is constantly affected by a shortage of drugs and disposables. In 2011, Gaza's health services faced their worst crisis of drugs and disposables. The lack of a reliable pipeline of drugs and disposables to Gaza impacts directly on the care provided to patients.
  © ICRC / I. El Baba / il-e-02348

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