Israel's blockade causing poverty levels to rise in Gaza

Since 2007, Gaza's roughly two million inhabitants have suffered from a crippling Israeli blockade that has deprived them of many basic commodities, including food, fuel, medicine and building materials.

A Palestinian woman leaves the United Nations food distribution center in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip June 11, 2017.
TRT World and Agencies

A Palestinian woman leaves the United Nations food distribution center in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip June 11, 2017.

The Gaza Strip has been facing strict restrictions on land, sea and air since Israel imposed a blockade on the coastal enclave in 2007.

The United Nations said more than half of the 1.8 million population of Gaza needs humanitarian support to survive. The area is one of the most densely populated places on earth.

Israel says the blockade stops weapons from threatening its citizens and is designed to strangle the political and military wings of Hamas, which has governed Gaza for 10 years.

TRT World's Iolo ap Dafydd reports from Palestine.

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