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Ordinary Gazans hurt most by 3-year blockade
Three out of four factories in Gaza have closed because they can't import or export. Legitimate businesses have been replaced by a Hamas-controlled black market economy. Millions of gallons of sewage are pumped into the sea every day because a lack of spare parts holds up infrastructure repairs.
Three years after Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza in hopes of squeezing the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers, those suffering most are ordinary Gazans.
They include tens of thousands who lost their jobs, among them 49-year-old Mohammed Maadi, whose family of 15 scrapes by on U.N. rations and whose teenage sons risked their lives digging smuggling tunnels to help put food on the table.
Even if the blockade were to be lifted soon–as many demanded after last week's deadly Israeli raid on a blockade-busting flotilla–recovery could take years. Production lines have fallen into disrepair. Entrepreneurs have moved investments abroad. Men forced into idleness have lost their place in society.