Drop in number of Gaza traders with Israeli permits

The number of Palestinian traders in the occupied Gaza Strip holding Israeli-issued travel permit has dropped considerably to 598 as of 1 November, compared to 703 a month earlier.

This represents an even sharper fall compared to the end of 2015, when 3,600 traders held permits.

The figures were published this week by Gisha, an Israeli NGO which monitors access restrictions in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

October also saw a drop in exits of Palestinians via the Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing – 4,812 exits compared to 7,101 exits in October 2016 and 10,745 exits in October 2015.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation authorities have published information about processing times for permit applications to enter Israel (including for travel to the West Bank and abroad).

According to the previous procedure, 23 working days were required to process non-medical requests, but this has now gone up to 50-70 days for the same requests.

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