Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) strongly condemned the Israeli occupation’s decision to stop exports of products and goods from the Gaza Strip, as it would severely affect sectors that depend on exports, especially the agriculture, fishing and clothing sectors.
This decision would double the suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip, including factories, institutions, and workers who would be losing their jobs as a result. The implications of such a decision would affect the entire population of the Strip, who live in extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, where 61% of the population live in poverty, while 47% are unemployed.
The sectors that would be most affected are the agricultural exports, which constitute 85% of total exports, and the fishing sector, as Gaza produces about 80 tons of fish on a monthly basis, and its losses would reach 50%.
It is likely that most fishermen won’t be able to afford the operational costs of their boats under the new conditions.
Losses are expected to affect about 60,000 families whose members work in the fields of fishing and agriculture. The Israeli decisions also threaten 70% of workers in the textile sector, which consists of 290 factories and 100 companies employing 9,000 workers.
This is another Israeli attempt to harass the residents of the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged since 2006, and had many restrictions on the movement of goods and trade, in addition to the destruction of factories during the successive military attacks launched by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip.
Losses suffered by various economic sectors in the Gaza Strip, exceeding $130 million, are nothing but a collective punishment carried out by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip have been suffering mostly in the health and energy fields due to the siege, where frequent power outages last for long hours during the day. There is also a severe scarcity of medicines and basic medical supplies, without which patients lives are often at risk. This new decision would worsen the situation and could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
AOHR UK calls on the international community to intervene immediately and take the necessary measures to prevent the implementation of this disastrous decision. it stresses the need to provide support to the residents of the Gaza Strip and to the economic sectors affected by this decision, and to ensure the provision of basic goods and job opportunities for the population.
It also calls on the Arab countries, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and all relevant international organisations to intensify efforts to contribute to resolving the crisis in the Gaza Strip, and to demand that the Israeli occupation comply with United Nations resolutions and international human rights.
