Below are few selected reports that were released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip in December 2007 and January 2008.
Gaza Strip Humanitarian Fact Sheet, December 2007
The Closure of the Gaza Strip: The Economic and Humanitarian Consequences, December 2007
Gaza Closure: Situation Report, 18-24 January 2008
Gaza Closure: Situation Report, 29 January 2008
Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report: Power Shortages in the Gaza Strip, 8 January 2008
Here are some of the key facts and figures indicated by these reports:
• The Fourth Geneva Convention (or GCIV) relates to the protection of civilians under any occupation by a foreign power. It pointed out that: no protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.
• Gaza Strip is a small area of 363 km. Almost 1.5 million Palestinians are living there (Among the highest density of population in the world).
• Gaza Strip, by international Law, is under Israeli Occupation.
• Gaza Strip is suffering since mid June 2007 from a tight Israeli closure and collective punishment, which resulted in a human catastrophe.
• Availability of medical supplies at Ministry of Health (MoH) facilities: 105 of the 416 essential drugs (25.2%) and 203 of the 596 essential medical supplies (34%) were at zero availability in December due to the lack of financial resources. These drugs include six first-line pediatric antibiotics and oncology drugs needed by 135 patients.
• Approximately 1,000 different spare parts for medical and non medical equipment remain unavailable in MoH stocks and on the local market and cannot be imported into Gaza due to the current import restrictions.
• The UN currently provides food assistance to 80% of the population in Gaza.
• The import of agricultural products was 36.6% less from June to December 2007 compared to the same period in 2006. The export of agricultural products was 89.6% less from June to December 2007 compared to the same period in 2006.
• In December 2007, Gaza's water authority (the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, CMWU) received 50% of its fuel needs.
• Projects, including those funded by the World Bank and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), have been on hold since mid-June due to the inability to import the required parts and equipment such as pipes, valves, water and waste water pumps and electromechanical spare parts.
• Due to the import restrictions of equipment and spare parts, 40% of Gaza's municipality vehicles and 600 containers need urgent replacement.
• No goods other than basic foods and medicines are being allowed into the Gaza Strip and supplies of many stocks that are not considered absolutely essential are fast running out.
• Basic items including wheat grain, vegetable oil, dairy products and baby milk are in extremely short supply.
• According to World Food Programme (WFP), of the 62% of households who stated a drop in spending, 93.5% cut back on food buying overall, leading to a 98% reduction in the purchase of meat and an 86% fall in the purchase of dairy products.
• Unemployment is set to rise above 50% in the Gaza Strip by the middle of 2008, if current trends continue. Joblessness in the Gaza Strip stood at 37.6% in the third quarter of 2007, compared to 32.3% in the second quarter.
• Latest figures show poverty in the Gaza Strip has already reached unprecedented levels with around eight out of ten households living below the poverty line of 2,300 NIS (US$594) per household per month.
• Of these, 66.7% of Gazan households are living in deep poverty, i.e. on less than 1,837 NIS or US$474 per month.
• 80% of Gazan families currently receive humanitarian aid (compared to 63% in 2006).
• The standard of healthcare in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating rapidly. The majority of diagnostic laboratory equipment, for example MRI and x-ray equipment, at Ministry of Health facilities are no longer functioning, and cannot be repaired due to the inability to import spare parts.
• Water wells and pumping stations serving more than 750,000 people throughout Gaza require urgent repair which cannot be carried out due to lack of spare parts.
• The Gaza Strip's private sector, which generate 53% of all its jobs, has been hardest hit by the closure and the resulting lack of raw materials and trade opportunities. More than 75,000 workers out of approximately 110,000 employed by the private sector have been temporarily laid off.
• None of the industrial sector's goods have been exported since mid-June 2007.
• Nearly 90% of all industrial establishments (3,500 out of 3,900) have shut down since mid-June 2007, either temporarily or permanently, including the most significant factories located at Karni Industrial Zone.
• Only 10% of the Gazan Strip's industries (400 establishments) remain partially functional at a low capacity (below 20%) and after five months of closures, are shortly expected to run out of raw materials.
• The Gazan construction sector is currently paralysed, mainly due to shortages in basic building materials such as cement, aggregates and steel, on which it is entirely dependent.
• By the end of November 2007, all construction factories (438) had shut down.
• For the last six months, virtually no agricultural exports have been allowed out of the Gaza Strip.
• Crops have perished or been sold on the local market at a fraction of their export price (local prices are only 10-15% of export prices).
• As of 21 January, the CMWU had only enough fuel to pump water from 40 out of its 130 wells, and to pump sewage at 21 out of its 33 pumping stations. At least 40% of Gazans had no running water during this time, while 30% of the population (450,000) still had no water by 23 January.
• Food aid in Gaza is dispensed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to 850,000 refugees and WFP to 300,000 non-refugees. UNRWA has sufficient reserves of food but almost ran out of sacking and bags required to distribute food. WFP has very limited stocks of food for 120,000 of their beneficiaries and on 23 January, 10,000 people were only given a portion of their rations.
