Israel is conducting punitive measures against the Gaza Strip, the most prominent of which is the cancellation of the commercial code of the Gaza Strip and the closure of the crossings through which food stuffs and other basic raw materials usually pass.

In this context, Maan talked with the economist 'Omar Sha'ban to discuss the crisis resulting from the Israeli siege.

He said: "Israel has started implementing practical measures on the ground without awaiting the Palestinian government's decisions; they cancelled the commercial customs' code of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday; they used the Kerem Shalom crossing alone for both individuals and goods and imposed a comprehensive closure on the Karni crossing 10 days ago, even before Hamas seized control over the Gaza Strip."

Sha'ban said that the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip require a minimum of 200 trucks carrying various imports daily. The economist recalled that the general siege started 15 months ago leaving several Palestinian families without income in addition to the irregular payment of public sector employees' salaries. The source of income has been paralyzed, he explained.

With regards to the different daily needs of the Gaza citizens, Sha'ban explained that they need thousands of basic vital goods in addition to foods. About 10,000 varieties of goods used to enter the Gaza Strip from Israel , he said, of which many were not just foodstuffs and basic humanitarian needs as some try to envision.

"The problem is not only one of food supplies as some Israelis and Palestinians try to demonstrate. The Gaza Strip is an industrial base with hundreds of factories and advanced agricultural source of income and source of exports. Everything has stopped now in addition to the financial deals between Palestinian companies and the world. Palestinians have goods in the middle of the sea which cost millions of dollars to export and are still pending clearance," the economist Sha'ban explained.

Sha'ban believes that the outside world and Israel will not tighten the economic siege on Gaza endlessly, since they know they have to keep it at a reasonable level.

He said Israel will not contribute to producing a famine in the Gaza Strip and killing people from hunger since they want to avoid international sanctions in addition to keeping their interests in the Gaza Strip, which is a major market for Israeli goods.

Source: Maan News Agency