Gaza once was once home to 1.8 million Palestinian residents, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
However the 2014 Israeli war on the Gaza strip forced half of a million of its residents to flee as the strip became partially desolated. In September 2015, the United Nations announced that the Gaza Strip could be uninhabitable in only 5 years. The root of Gaza’s troubles began at the Israeli economic blockade. In 2007, Hamas, defined by CNN as a “militant fundamentalist Islamic organization” that aims to establish a Palestinian state, took control of Gaza.
This control stemmed from a landslide win in the 2006 Gazan election. Since then, Israel and Egypt began blockading Palestinians by means of limiting travel to and from the Gaza Strip. Over the years, the blockade on Gaza has gradually tightened to the point of utter destruction. Since the blockade started, Hamas responded by sending rockets from Gaza to southern Israeli towns and cities. As the blockade continued, the violence escalated.
The 2014 Israeli military operation, known as Operation Protective Edge, killed over 2,100 Palestinians in 51 days.During the 51 Day War, over 3 million bullets and 20,000 tons of explosives were fired into Gaza. The war left over 20,000 Palestinian homes, 148 schools, 15 hospitals, and 45 health care centers destroyed in its wake. In the months following the war, Gazans dealt with 12 to 16 hour blackouts on a regular basis. Gaza’s only power plant closed in November, rendering pump stations useless. Raw sewage soon began to flood into the streets. Gaza’s economy immediately spiraled out of control.
The cost of basic foods, like rice, increased by over 26%. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated that the “direct losses” were “close to three times Gaza’s local gross domestic product.” The UNCTAD recently reported that the war “effectively eliminated what was left of the middle class, sending almost all of the population into destitution and dependence on international humanitarian aid.” The region’s economy was left crippled with a 44% unemployment rate and a 30% percent decrease in its gross domestic product (GDP) since 1994.
Gaza’s economy has receded to the point of non-existence; its economic growth was reported at -0.4% in 2014. Even before the Israeli military operations, Gaza was unable to provide electricity to 40% of its demands. Food insecurity rapidly rises as over 868,000 Palestinian refugees depend on food distribution from the United Nations (UN). Before the large-scale recession and wars, Gaza’s 1.8 million residents relied on coastal aquifers as a water supply; now 90% of this water is unsafe to drink. Since the agreement on the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in August 2014, Israel promised to ease the blockade to allow aid and construction materials. However, the construction materials necessary to rebuild Gaza’s buildings were not permitted into its borders.
Building and raw materials have been on Israel’s “ban list” since 2006. Materials like cement and steel were all banned because Israel believed that Gazan military groups could use these items to build military sites instead of rebuilding infrastructure. Throughout the war, Gazans relied on tunnels to get building materials. However, the majority of the tunnels have been sealed or destroyed by the Egyptian military in an attempt to defeat Hamas.
Between November and January of 2015, only 1,677 trucks, that carried construction materials,were allowed in Gaza. The Strip needs approximately 800,000 truckloads to repair the physical damage caused during the 50-day war. Oxfam, an international organization working to find solutions to poverty warns that, “at this current rate, this [rebuilding Gaza] would take about 119 years.” The effects of Gaza’s “de-developed” economy cannot be reversed on the donor aid alone. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamdi Shaqqura, the deputy director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, stated that this “humanitarian catastrophe” can only end when “Israeli policies”, such as the blockade, are eradicated. According to Shaqqura, Gaza has “great potentials… for economic policies,” but no progress can be made if Gazans are never given the opportunity to rebuild. In August 2015, Avaaz, an activist group, began an online petition urging Israel to end the blockade. After two months, the petition is 670,280 signatures closer to meeting its 700,000 signature goal. Only time will tell if the Gaza Strip can survive for another five years.
