Turkish body distributes 6,000 food packages in Gaza

By Muhammad Majid and Hacer Baser

GAZA, Palestine (AA) - A Turkish aid agency distributed 6,000 packages of food to needy people in the besieged Gaza Strip and provided hot meals to 650 people, Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) Gaza office's Mohamad ash-Shurafa told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

Shurafa also said the IHH will work throughout the holy month of Ramadan to ease the problems of Gazans and provide them with humanitarian aid.

According to the Palestinian Statistical Institution, the poverty rate in Gaza reached 53 percent in 2017. It added 250,000 Palestinians remain unemployed in Gaza, where the population is two million.

Israeli blockade, which has been continuing since 2006, is said to be the primary reason for this dire situation, which has caused stagnation and crisis in production.

On Monday, at least 62 Palestinian demonstrators were martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli armed forces along the Gaza-Israel fence, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Thousands of Palestinians had gathered on the Gaza Strip’s eastern border to take part in protests marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel -- which Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, Arabic for "Catastrophe" -- and protest the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.