GAZA CITY
A Palestinian lawmaker on Thursday invited UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit the Gaza Strip to see for himself the harm that Israel's longstanding blockade had wrought on the coastal enclave.
"This siege is inhumane and immoral," Jamal al-Khoudary, head of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza, said at a press conference held at the Erez border crossing.
He added: "It's a crime against the Palestinian people."
Al-Khoudary called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to end its eight-year blockade on the hapless Palestinian territory.
Israel, he said, was allowing only small quantities of basic goods to reach Gaza's almost two million residents, going on to note that unemployment had skyrocketed to some 50 percent of the strip's population.
The lawmaker added that construction materials allowed into Gaza by Israel only met some 5 percent of local market demand.
"Some educational, humanitarian and health projects, worth a total value of $500 million, have ground to a halt due to the blockade," al-Khoudary said.
He described the situation in Gaza as "catastrophic," calling on Muslim countries to intervene to help ease the embattled territory's plight.
In October, Israel once again halted the flow of construction materials into the strip following the discovery of a tunnel – allegedly built by Hamas – linking Gaza to Israel.
The move came one month after the self-proclaimed Jewish state resumed delivery of building materials into the strip via the Karam Abu Salem border crossing.
The crossing, located southeast of Gaza, is a meeting point for the borders of Egypt, Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Israel, citing "security reasons," has blocked the entry of building supplies into the territory since 2007.
By Mohamed Maged
englishnews@aa.com.tr
