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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Gaza: Palestinian territory ravaged by wars, poverty

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Gaza City: The Gaza Strip, run by Hamas for the past 10 years, is a poverty-stricken and overcrowded Palestinian coastal enclave.


It is facing a strict Israeli blockade, while its border with Egypt has also been largely closed in recent years.


Cramped enclave : Situated on the Mediterranean coast, between Israel and Egypt, the Gaza Strip is home to around two million Palestinians.


They live in a cramped area of just 362 square kilometres, making it one of the most densely populated territories on the planet.


After the Arab-Israeli war of 1948-1949 and the formation of the Jewish state of Israel, Gaza came under Egyptian administration, but was never annexed.


Shut-in: On September 12, 2005, Israel pulled out all of its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in a unilateral move which ended 38 years of occupation.


In the summer of 2006, following the capture of a soldier by fighters from Hamas, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza which was tightened a year later after the activists forcibly ousted troops loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah faction.


Since the ousting of Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the only entrance to Gaza not controlled by Israel, Rafah, has been almost completely closed by Cairo.


45 per cent unemployment: According to the World Bank, Gaza’s GDP losses caused by the blockade are estimated at more than 50 per cent.


The Gaza Strip has almost no industry, and it suffers from a chronic lack of water and fuel. Unemployment stands at 45 per cent and more than two thirds of the population depends on humanitarian aid.


String of Israeli operations:


On February 27-March 3, 2008, Israel carried out operation “Hot Winter” following the death of an Israeli from rocket fire from Gaza.


 — AFP


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