MP Jamal Al-Khudari, head of the People’s Committee to Confront the Siege, called on the international community to pressure the Israeli occupation to open the Gaza Strip crossings, and to enter life necessities estimated at about $100 million, which Israel has detained and prevented its passage for about 60 days (the crossing was closed almost completely).
In a press statement issued on Friday, Al-Khudari appealed to the European Union and the Secretary-General of the United Nations to intervene urgently to save the deteriorating life conditions as a result of the continuing and tightening of the siege, which has exacerbated the suffering of two million Palestinians living in harsh living conditions.
He praised the statements of the Humanitarian Coordinator in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, that continuing to prevent the entry of supplies to Gaza and limiting them to some aid will endanger vital sectors, and called on her to work effectively to open the crossing.
“The closure of the crossings and the prevention of the entry of goods caused heavy losses to the economy in Gaza, and 90% of the sector’s factories became closed, in addition to the high unemployment rates, reaching nearly 60%,” Al-Khudari said.
He pointed out that this coincides with the continued prevention of the occupation from entering building materials, whether for the normal construction of housing, schools, hospitals and universities, or for the reconstruction of what was destroyed by the occupation during the aggression of last May.
Al-Khudari called for the need to expedite the opening of the crossings and to allow entry to all the goods held before the blessed Eid al-Adha, especially since Gaza merchants and owners of these goods have suffered losses since the last aggression and deprived them of the Eid al-Fitr season and beyond.
He said, “A part of these goods are mostly related to the festive season, and their failure to enter them before the feast means a complex disaster targeting merchants after they lost the last feast season.”
He stressed the need to remove the opening of the crossings from any political or security equation, given that these crossings were found to remain open in the face of import and export movement.
“Closing the crossings is a flagrant violation of international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” al-Khudari said.