GAZA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The monthly economic loss in the Gaza Strip has grown to 100 million U.S. dollars because of the continuing deterioration, a Palestinian committee said Friday.
"The crises of the economic sector are directly caused by the Israeli siege imposed on the coastal enclave since 2007," said Jamal al-Khudari, chairman of the Popular Committee to Challenge the Israeli Siege.
"4,000 factories, workshops, shops and companies have closed or shrunk by more than 80 percent of their operational capacity during the years of the Israeli siege," he told reporters.
Al-Khudari said the remaining companies, shops, factories, and economic facilities are currently operating with less than 50 percent of their operational capacity, causing the high rates of poverty and unemployment.
He noted that 85 percent of the Gazans are living under the poverty line.
Gaza Strip is home of more than 2 million Palestinians. Besides the high rates of poverty and unemployment, the Gaza Strip suffers from a severe power and water crisis as well as severe economic and health deterioration.
