"GAZA'S FARMERS AND CLOTHING WORKERS SECTORS STRUGGLE UNDER ISRAELI BLOCKADE" 23 June 2023

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There are about 45,000 acres of farmland throughout the Gaza Strip's 360 square kilometers. The land produces various crops like citrus, olives, grapes, vegetables, dates and, most recently, watermelons.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Gaza is self-sufficient in most of these crops...

But Ahed says he is struggling to make ends meet...

"...Running costs are way bigger than profits. We farmers have lost more than we have won over the past five years. For example, we used to produce strawberries, but since restrictions have been imposed on exports, we turned now to producing watermelon."

Ahed's economic struggles are not new to the Palestinian residents of Gaza. The Gaza Strip...has been under an Israeli siege since 2007. The blockade has caused the "near collapse of the regional Gaza economy," according to a 2020 United Nations report. Israel can block all kinds of supplies and raw materials from Gaza if they could be used in military activities, making raw materials difficult to obtain. 

This has impacted farmers like Ahed as well as industrial workers in Gaza. Agricultural and industrial sectors once made up much larger proportions of Gaza's economy. They have both been hit hard by the past 16 years of an Israel-imposed siege.

During this blockade, farmers like Ahed have to continue carrying out their work while navigating intermittent Israeli military attacks...

"One of the main challenges that we have been encountering, has been the unrest in the region," says Ahed. "For example, in May 2021, I had this same crop. By then, there was an Israeli war. I remember that I had to risk my life in order to come over for 30 minutes to irrigate my watermelons. I recall very well that one day during that war, I saw and heard tank shells landing just nearby."...

Power shortages have been a major problem for the entire population of Gaza. In 2006, Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip caused the enclave's main power plant to shut down. It now meets less than 40 percent of Gaza's electrical demand, and power outages of six to eight hours occur daily.

Farmers and workers have had to work around this. Many have invested in alternative sources of energy, like solar power...

"When Israel attacks Gaza, I can't travel to my farm. Two years ago, in 2021, 10.5 crates of watermelons were destroyed because I wasn't able to irrigate my fruits for 11 consecutive days," says Abdelkarim.

Abdelkarim shared that when Israel bombed Gaza for 50 days during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, he had to move most of his crops out of the farm as Israeli tanks bulldozed his crops and uprooted his land...

Gaza's clothing manufacturers also continue to face hardships caused by the Israel-imposed closure of Gaza.

Foad Auda (فؤاد عودة), the head of the union of garment industries in Gaza, spoke of his hopes and aspirations for this tiny coastal territory's garment industry.

"Over the past couple years of improved clothing production in Gaza, manufacturers have faced restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities, including demands that exporters place their shipments in pallets that are only 160 centimeters high and that must have an almost 30 centimeters of space between each other. This actually has made costs of shipments and transport through the main Israeli commercial crossing of Gaza, known as Kerem Shalom, quite high."...

Foad Auda said that over the past year, Gaza's factories have managed to produce 90 percent of Gaza's demand for women's long dresses, known as jilbab, which local importers used to bring from nearby Jordan.

"Furthermore, jeans produced by local manufacturers are of high quality. Currently, the local manufacturers produce one million pieces, while another million are imported from Turkey," he adds.

He attributes some of the recent success to outside help and investment in the garment industry...