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Few Goods Entering Blockaded Gaza: Commercial Chamber

01.10.2014 15:31

In the one month since Palestinian factions and Israel signed a cease fire deal, imports coming into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom border crossing – Gaza's only functional commercial crossing – have met only 25 percent of Gaza residents' needs, the Gaza Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday.

In the one month since Palestinian factions and Israel signed a cease-fire deal, imports coming into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom border crossing – Gaza's only functional commercial crossing – have met only 25 percent of Gaza residents' needs, the Gaza Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday.



Within the last month, it added, only 5,031 trucks had managed to enter the coastal enclave via Kerem Shalom.



In a statement, the chamber added that these 5,031 trucks had included 1,267 that contained humanitarian aid from international agencies, representing about 25 percent of the humanitarian aid needed by the strip's roughly 1.9 million residents.



Palestinian factions and Israel signed a cease-fire deal on August 26, following 51 days of devastating Israeli attacks on the blockaded Gaza Strip in which more than 2,150 Palestinians were killed and some 11,000 injured.



In its Wednesday statement, the Gaza Chamber of Commerce said an average of 163 trucks per day had entered the strip through Kerem Shalom in the month that has passed since the cease-fire came into effect.



It added that international institutions operating in Gaza had only been able to import some 2,200 tons of cement during the period, accounting for roughly one quarter of Gaza's total cement needs.



Since the cease-fire deal was signed, it added, nothing had changed on the ground in terms of the entry of commercial goods and construction materials into Gaza.



It added that the Kerem Shalom crossing continued to operate according to pre-cease-fire mechanisms in terms of working hours and the number of trucks allowed through every day.



Between 700 and 900 trucks must be allowed through the crossing each day in order to meet the needs of Gaza residents.



Blockaded by Israel by air, land and sea since 2007, the Gaza Strip has seven border crossings linking it to the outside world. Six of these are controlled by Israel, while a seventh – the Rafah crossing – is controlled by Egypt, which keeps it tightly sealed for the most part.



Israel sealed four of its commercial crossings with Gaza in June 2007 after Palestinian resistance movement Hamas – after sweeping 2006 legislative elections – wrested control of the strip from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.



As it currently stands, Israeli authorities allow the Kerem Shalom crossing – which links Gaza to both Israel and Egypt – to operate for commercial purposes.



The northern Erez crossing linking the strip to Israel, meanwhile, is generally dedicated to the movement of individuals between Gaza and the occupied West Bank.



By Ola Attalah



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Gazze



 
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