Stalls open selling goods at 20% of market price in Gaza

6 years ago

Stalls open selling goods at 20% of market price in Gaza [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Palestinians at a fruit and vegetable market on 8 March 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Hundreds of poor Palestinians families in Gaza came out on to Al-Saraya Square today in the hopes of benefiting from Qatari welfare package which would see citizens paying only 20 per cent of the total costs of goods.

Nearly 1,000 families were able to purchase vegetables and other basic requirements from the charity market project, which is being funded by a Qatari philanthropist and Ghaith for Relief and Development.

The initiation, the first of its kind in Gaza, has been well received by the population which is suffering from an 11-year Israeli siege, UNRWA cuts and living with the remnants of numerous Israeli wars which have left people disabled, homeless and with no place to work.

Read: Yousef hails $9m Qatar aid package to besieged Gaza

Some 65 per cent of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip are thought to be living in poverty, with 80 per cent relying on relief agencies for assistance. The unemployment rate in the enclave is at 43.7 per cent, while 54 per cent of the population is under 19 years of age.

Stalls open selling goods at 20% of market price in Gaza [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]