Aid groups concerned over Gaza siege

Several aid groups have expressed their deep concerns over Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, which entered its fourth year this June.

A report by the 21 groups released on Tuesday showed that Israel’s continued ban on most raw materials has kept 65 percent of Gaza’s factories shut.

Some 40 percent of the 1.5 million impoverished people of Gaza are jobless and 80 percent depend on aid.

Tel Aviv promised to ease the siege after Israeli commandos attacked a Gaza-bound aid convoy in international waters, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists and injuring dozens others.

“We aren’t seeing an easing of the blockade compared to Israel’s declared aims,” said Karl Schembri of Oxfam, one of the groups preparing the report. Others included Amnesty International and Save the Children.

“It’s not having any impact,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

The report said Israel’s easing focuses on food and consumer products but it has had little effect on larger projects.

Overall, 11 percent of the material that entered Gaza before the blockade is now getting in, according to the report.

The UN has plans to build 100 schools and 10,000 housing units, some to replace those destroyed in the Gaza war.

The report said it has been able to start only 7 percent of these projects and even their progress has been impeded by Israel.