Aid Groups: eased blockade still stifling Gaza

Business and construction in the Gaza Strip remain stifled half a year after Israel announced it
would ease its three-year-old blockade so needy people could get supplies. That’s according to a new report by rights groups and aid agencies working inside the Palestinian territory. They accuse Israel of ducking promises to ease the blockade's effects on civilians, a pledge it made after an Israeli commando raid in May on an international flotilla protesting the restrictions.

Christian Aid is one of the contributors to the report.

“What we’ve unfortunately been able to see is that five months on there has been very little difference…” Says the agency’s Emergency Advocacy Officer for the Middle East, Hanan Elmasu.


She adds that, “while you do see some increase in consumer goods coming in, there’s a welcome entry of some construction materials, its not nearly enough as what would be needed to rebuild Gaza properly after the destruction of almost 2 years ago”. Listen to full interview with Lydia O'Kane