Image source, getty
- Author, Drafting
- Role, BBC World
The small Gaza Strip, only 41 km long and 10 km wide, has become the center of the world these days after the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel from that territory.
Nearly 2,000 people have died from attacks by Palestinian militants and Israel’s subsequent response to the Strip, which is under siege.
From there they crossed the border and the militants entered and Hamas launched thousands of rockets. And that is where Israel’s retaliation efforts are now set.
Gaza is an enclave of 360 km2 bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Israel and Egypt where 2.3 million Palestinians live. This makes it in one of the most densely populated territories in the world.
While a city like London has a population density of 5,700 people per square kilometer, in areas of Gaza the number rises to more than 9,000 inhabitants.
Since Gaza has been under the control of the Islamist group Hamas in 2007, Israel and Egypt have agreed a blockade that has restricted the movement of Palestinian civilians.
The defense zone established by Israel along the border to protect against rocket attacks and raids by Islamists has limited the amount of land available for homes or farms.
As imports or exports are limited, Gaza’s economy has been on the brink of collapse with unemployment rates above 46%according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Image source, BBC
Half of the Palestinians in Gaza are under 19 years old, but little or no prospects for socioeconomic growth and limited access to the outside world.
More than 80% of the population lives in poverty and the World Food Program considers that 63% of Gazans are “food insecure” and dependent on humanitarian aid.
According to the United Nations, nearly 600,000 refugees in Gaza live in eight overcrowded camps.
Image source, BBC
It is estimated that 95% of the population does not have drinking water Added to this are the power outages that occur daily.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), before the conflict most homes only had electricity three hours a day.
Now the Israeli Army has cut off all electricity supply.
The Strip gets most of its electricity from Israel, as well as from a single power plant in Gaza and a small amount from Egypt.
This situation of isolation has degraded the living conditions of Palestinians.
Human Rights Watch compared conditions in Gaza to “an open-air prison”. While a UN delegate has declared the area “uninhabitable.”
It is feared that the situation, as a result of the intensification of the conflict with Israel, will worsen drastically.
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