|PIC1|Over 30 non-governmental humanitarian organisations have joined together to express their concern over Israel's continued blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has been in force for over two years now.

“These indiscriminate sanctions are affecting the entire 1.5 million population of Gaza, and ordinary women, children and the elderly are the first victims,” say the groups, which include Christian aid agency World Vision, Action Against Hunger, CARE and Oxfam.

In a joint statement, they warn that the “suffocation of Gaza's economy has led to unprecedented unemployment and poverty rates and almost total aid dependency”.

“While Gazans are being kept alive through humanitarian aid, ordinary civilians have lost all quality of life as they fight to survive,” they add.

Since June 2007, Egypt and Israel have imposed the blockade on the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories, accusing Hamas of continuing to smuggle weapons into Gaza, which Israel has declared a “hostile entity”.

While Egypt fears Hamas-style militancy will spill over its borders, Israel states that some people claiming to require medical attention in Gaza are in fact planning terrorist attacks. Israel says Hamas has diverted aid in the past and could appropriate building materials for its own use.

Aid agencies, however, say they have stringent monitoring systems in place and that the blockade of the Gaza Strip is creating “an atmosphere of deprivation in Gaza that can only deepen the sense of hopelessness and despair among people”.

“The people of Gaza need to be shown an alternative of hope and dignity,” the signers of Thursday’s letter stated.

The humanitarian groups, together with the United Nations, are calling for free and uninhibited access for all humanitarian assistance “in accordance with the international agreements and in accordance with universally recognised international human rights and humanitarian law standards”.

“We also call for a return to normalised trade to enable the poverty and unemployment rates to decrease,” they add.

They conclude: “Allowing human development and prosperity to take hold is an essential first step towards the establishment of lasting peace."