GAZA CITY
A Palestinian lobby group on Saturday lashed out at Israel for maintaining its blockade of the Gaza Strip despite the formation of a Palestinian unity government.
"Israel continues to besiege 1.8 people in the Gaza Strip despite the formation of the national unity government," Gamal al-Khoderi, the head of the popular committee for lifting the siege on Gaza, said in a statement.
He said that the formation of the unity government has deprived Israel of its pretext to maintain the blockade on the tiny Palestinian territory.
"Israel is obliged under international law to lift the siege on Gaza," he said.
A government of technocrats was sworn in on Monday in line of a recent reconciliation deal hammered out by the Gaza-based Hamas movement and the West Bank-based Fatah group.
The government is now responsible for running the affairs of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while Hamas, considered a "terrorist organization" by Israel, is no longer in power.
Gaza has groaned under an Israeli blockade imposed since 2006, depriving the coastal enclave's residents of their most basic needs.
Al-Khoderi said 50 percent of Gaza's workers are now jobless, while 70 percent of its residents live under the poverty line.
He added that 80 percent of the factories of the coastal enclave have also closed down, while projects to the value of $500 million have been suspended because of Israel's ban on the entry of construction materials into the Gaza Strip.
By Ola Attalah
www.aa.com.tr/en
