<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Gaza situation deteriorating: UNRWA |&nbsp;VIDEO]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span id="ctl00_body_spnDetail"></p>
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<div id="divNewsDatetime">PressTV &#8211;  Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:18AM</div>
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<div id="divLead">The  UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned  that years of Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip have seriously  deteriorated the humanitarian crisis in the coastal sliver.</div>
<p>UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said that unemployment rate in  Gaza has reached around 45.5 percent, a Press TV correspondent reported.</p>
<p>The deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza comes years after  June 2007 when Israel and neighboring Egypt shut down Gaza&#8217;s borders and  tightened a siege already in place.</p>
<p>Israel eased the siege last June and allowed consumer goods into  Gaza after its May 2010 bloody attack on an aid convoy killed nine  Turkish activists, sparking an international outrage.</p>
<p>But experts say there is no economic improvement in the impoverished  territory as Israel continues to restrict the import of basic goods,  severely restricts the movement of people and blocks all exports.</p>
<p>Human rights activists have criticized the international community  for its silence on the flagging Gaza economy that has been shattered by  the siege and the 22-day Israeli assault on the Gazans at the turn of  2009.</p>
<p>According to the United Nations figures, the war left over 1,400  people &#8212; mostly civilians &#8212; dead and damaged or destroyed more than  50,000 homes, 800 industrial units, 200 schools as well as 39 mosques  and two churches.</p>
<p>“Over a million refugees in Gaza live in hard conditions in several  camps across the strip and are dependent on assistance provided by the  UNRWA,” the report said.</p>
<p>The UN agency needs to build 100 schools and 10,000 housing units in  addition to a number of health centers but these have been severely  hampered by Israeli siege of the strip.</p>
<p>Successive UN human rights chiefs have slammed Israel&#8217;s illegal  settlement plans, its Gaza blockade and the building of an apartheid  wall across Palestinian territories in the occupied West Bank among  other things.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail/164487.html">PressTV &#8211; Gaza situation deteriorating: UNRWA</a>.</p>
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