Israeli blockade makes Gaza recovery ‘impossible’

Analysts fear that failing to address the misery of Gazans who have faced three wars in six years will only sow the seeds for future violence.

Adnan Al Najar, 53, and his family await the end of the day’s fast at their house in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Their home was wrecked in Israel’s 50-day assault a year ago. The truce ending the war Show more

LONDON // Israel’s blockade of building materials for Gaza has created one of the highest levels of unemployment in the world, aid agencies warned on Wednesday as Israel and Palestinians marked one year since last summer’s Gaza war.

The blockade has made it impossible for the small coastal enclave to recover from the war and has isolated Gaza from the rest of the world, the international charity Christian Aid said.

Less than one per cent of the materials needed for reconstruction have been allowed into the enclave, and the blockade has “helped to create some of the highest unemployment and aid dependency levels in the world, and must be brought to an end”, said the charity’s spokesman William Bell.

The United Nations weighed in saying the blockade’s “crippling effect on Gaza is undeniable, inexcusable”.

However, Robert Turner, operations director in Gaza for UN relief agency UNRWA, said that a small amount of Gazan goods being allowed through for sale in Israel and the occupied West Bank in recent months was a reason for hope.

Israel launched “Operation Protective Edge” on July 8 last year in response to rocket fire into Israel by militants in the Gaza Strip.

The ceasefire that ended the 50-day war has largely held, but few of the issues that led to the conflict have been resolved and tens of thousands of Gazans remain homeless in the besieged strip.

Neighbourhoods are still levelled, with children playing among the jagged remains of bombed-out houses. Twisted steel rods that once reinforced concrete buildings litter the ground.

While there appears to be little appetite for conflict on either side for now, analysts say failing to address the misery of Gazans who have faced three wars in six years will only sow the seeds for future violence.

The war took a heavy toll on Gaza, killing 2,251 Palestinians, including more than 500 children. Seventy-three people were killed on the Israeli side, including 67 soldiers.

Thousands of Gazans were made homeless –100,000 homes were damaged and more than 12,000 destroyed, none of which have been rebuilt.

The aid agency Oxfam said Gaza’s economy was increasingly reliant on international aid, on which 80 per cent of its 1.8 million residents depend.

Unemployment is among the highest in the world, with almost 68 per cent of those under 24 jobless, it said.

The lack of opportunities is forcing a growing number of young people to risk their lives or arrest by trying to climb the border fence into Israel to look for work, Oxfam said.

The slow pace of reconstruction - estimated to take more than 70 years - means teenagers in Gaza will be old by the time it is completed, the agency said.

A UN report released last month said both sides may have committed war crimes during the conflict.

Hamas, the militant movement that runs the Gaza Strip, planned commemorations for Wednesday.

Israel held a memorial on Monday for its 73 victims killed in the war, where prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the military offensive.

“I say to all enemies of Israel – Hamas, Hizbollah, Iran and ISIL – that those who attempt to attack our people will pay with their blood,” he said.

Indirect talks on shoring up the ceasefire and easing Israel’s blockade have taken place, but there have been no signs that a deal could be reached anytime soon.

* Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse