At least 17 people have taken their own lives in the impoverished Gaza Strip this year and hundreds more have made suicide attempts, a Palestinian rights group said Monday.
Israel and Egypt imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Gaza Strip after the Hamas terror group seized control of the enclave in 2007.
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Palestinians receive financial aid payments from Qatar at a post office in Gaza City
(Photo: AFP)
"We have registered 17 suicides and hundreds of attempted suicides, namely among young people," since the start of the year, said Samir Zaqout, deputy director of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.
He said that "extreme poverty," difficult living conditions and a lack of freedom of expression were all factors behind these suicides.
According to the United Nations, unemployment before the spread of the coronavirus stood at around 43 percent of Gaza's estimated two million inhabitants, while 80 percent depended on aid to survive.
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Palestinians spray disinfectant as a precaution against coronavirus in Al Nusairat refugee camp in Gaza
(Photo: EPA)
The World Bank estimates that poverty affected 53 percent of Gazans before the pandemic and that the number could now reach 64 percent.
Hamas police spokesman Ayman al-Batniji contested the suicide data reported by Al Mezan.
"This year there have been 12 suicides in Gaza and that is less than the 32 cases which were reported in 2019," he told reporters.