More than half of Gaza’s residents—53%, or 1.01 million people, including more than 400,000 children—live in poverty, on less than €4 ($4.7) a day. Gaza’s economy has been devastated since the 2007 Israeli blockade.
“There are official estimates of the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip reaching between 43 and 44% overall with the youth unemployment at 50 to 60%,” says economist Moeen Raja, Euronews reported.
“As a result of the blockade, there are no job opportunities. All doors to any productive or developmental work are closed, thus the employment opportunities have greatly reduced.”
The Israeli blockade on Gaza has been ongoing for a decade since Hamas took control of the coastal area in 2007.
The blockade has crippled the economy of the Palestinian territory which is one of the most densely populated places in the world.
As many as one million children live in Gaza and charities have described their living condition as dire.
Gaza Sky Geeks is a Mercy Corps-funded tech accelerator that operates inside blockaded Gaza. The incubator encourages Gazans to work remotely.
“Working remotely is a way of life for anyone with a certain skill or that can deliver it online,” says Sky Geek’s Saeed Habeeb.
“We all live here, see and suffer from our surroundings. University graduates face a daily suffocating siege that has destroyed most of the opportunities, there are no new jobs at all, and opportunities are gradually diminishing.”
“I am a university student in the fourth level now,” says Dalal Al-Aziz. “I know that when I graduate i won’t have any job opportunities because I see all the former graduates are still unemployed.”
An ongoing electricity crisis leaves Gaza residents with just a few hours of power a day.
Some years ago the United Nations warned that Gaza is expected to be unlivable by 2020. It now says living conditions are deteriorating even “further and faster” than predicted.
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