GAZA: Palestinians demanded on Tuesday that Israel lift a ban on exports from the Gaza Strip imposed over what Israel called an attempt to smuggle explosives, saying it would hit thousands of families and ruin precarious livelihoods in the blockaded enclave.
Israel said on Monday it was temporarily stopping commercial goods from leaving Gaza after inspectors found several kilogrammes of “high-quality explosives” in a shipment, hidden in the lining of clothes.
At the beachfront Al Bahar (The Sailor) restaurant and fish farm, owner Mohammad al Hajj said he used to export 20 tonnes of fish per week to Israel and the West Bank.
“The fish in fridges will decay if we can’t export it, and we will be forced to sell the fish of the farm at the lowest prices,” said Hajj, saying the jobs of 200 workers at his business were at risk unless the ban is lifted.
Around 2 million Palestinians live in the narrow Gaza Strip, the vast majority of them descendants of refugees who fled or were driven from what is now Israel at its founding in 1948.
Since the Hamas took power in the territory in 2007, it has suffered from the one of the world’s highest unemployment rates under a blockade of many goods imposed by Israel with Egyptian backing. It has also been severely damaged in four major wars and numerous other clashes between Hamas and Israel.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Israeli decision “would increase the already existing tension because of continued Israeli blockade and aggression against our people”.
In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian economy minister Khaled Assaili demanded Israel cancel the ban which stops Gaza exports to Israel and the West Bank.
— Reuters
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