Survive in Gaza, the largest open-air prison in the world

50.2% of the territory’s active population is unemployed, according to data from the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA, for its acronym in English). It is women who have the greatest difficulties in finding work: the 68.6% of Gazans are unemployed. This fully impacts households, 64% of which suffer from food insecurity. These impediments coexist with a critical energy landscape that forces them to live with just a few hours of electricity a day.

But that does not prevent Gazans from continuing to come into the world: 51% of the population has less than 15 years. Each Israeli offensive claims a large number of early lives. Furthermore, the continuous attacks not only severely damage the educational and health infrastructures, but also have a full impact on homes. Hundreds of people are forced to scroll internally and the violence of the Israeli troops has made their homes uninhabitable.

For the last fifteen years, Israel has launched four offensives on the Strip of Gaza that leave dozens of fatalities. Continuously, international and local organizations make appeals against the humanitarian emergency in the Strip. In recent years, UNRWA has denounced the decline in funds for the agency that assists Palestinian refugees. Nearly one and a half million live in Gaza.

In turn, the political situation is stagnant. The Islamist Hamas militia has been ruling the Strip de facto since 2007. This government, at the hands of a organization considered terrorist by the United States, the European Union and other governments, it suffers a blockade that prevents the entry of food, medicine, construction material, weapons and other products into Gazan territory. no elections or political freedom, Hamas representatives have been accused of human rights violations.

In this latest Israeli offensive on the enclave, Hamas has stood by, leaving the entire fight to the smallest group with which it lives, the Islamic Jihad. Both groups are rivals, but they often team up to take on Israel. The main objectives of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also considered terrorist, are the annihilation of Israel as a State and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian Islamic State. It has a minor military arsenal than that of Hamas, although during the three days of confrontations, it has managed to launch more than a thousand rockets towards Israeli territory without causing any fatalities.

Since the escalation in May of last year, Hamas has kept a low profile. Israeli officials welcome this result of the Israeli government policy change During the last months. In its efforts to improve Gaza’s economy, Israel has offered 14,000 work permits Gazans and has promised to increase them depending on the security situation. A patch in a town that doesn’t stop bleeding.