At least 73 percent of Gaza families suffer food insecurity due to the 13-year Israeli siege imposed on the Strip, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights revealed yesterday.

In a statement, the rights group said that this number has recently increased from 70 percent due to the coronavirus measures put in place, in addition to the delay in paying the salaries of civil servants and the weak flow of cash and humanitarian aid entering the coastal enclave.

The rights group said that commercial activities witnessed a sharp decrease in light of the ongoing dire situation, noting that thousands of families are currently living in abject poverty.

According to the rights group, this has affected the quality and quantity of food sought by families in Gaza.

Concluding its statement, Al Mezan warned that the current situation would have “disastrous consequences on the humanitarian situation” in the Gaza Strip, calling on the international community to act “quickly”, end the Israeli siege and offer assistance to Gaza.

Gaza, with a population of 2 million, has been under a hermetic Israeli siege since 2006, when the Palestinian group Hamas won the democratic legislative elections in occupied Palestine. Since then, Israel has carried out numerous bombing campaigns and several major wars, that resulted in the death of thousands of people.

(Palestine Chronicle, MEMO, Social Media)