ZUMAland.com

For the past decade, the Gaza Strip has suffered from a chronic electricity deficit, an ongoing and growing electricity crisis faced by nearly two million citizens of the Gaza Strip, with regular power supply being provided only for a few hours a day on a rolling blackout schedule. The situation has further deteriorated since April 2017 in the context of disputes between the de facto authorities in Gaza and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. The functionality of Gaza’s 14 public hospitals is increasingly jeopardized by electricity shortages and the rapidly declining UN coordinated fuel reserves required to run emergency generators during prolonged electricity cuts. With the blockade now in its eleventh year, the occupied Palestinian Territory now suffers the highest unemployment rate in the world, with incomes and agricultural production going down, the United Nations trade and development agency stated, noting that women and young people were worst affected. The enduring deprivation of basic economic, social and human rights inflicts a heavy toll on Gaza’s psychological and social fabric, as manifested by the widespread incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder and high suicide rates,” the UN reported, noting that in 2017, 225,000 children, more than 10 per cent of the total population, required psychological support.