Gaza Strip has deteriorated over the past 20 years, where the Gaza Strip has experienced the fourth lowest growth rate in the world. This economic “dedevelopment”, as it is termed by the United Nations, has been a catastrophe for Palestinians living in Gaza, who suffer from one of the world’s highest unemployment rate of 44 percent.179 In September 2015, a report published by the United Nations warned that unless the economic situation changes soon, the Gaza Strip might become unlivable by 2020.180 A clear way to see the impact Israel’s restrictions have on the Gaza Strip is to look at the number of truckloads of exports leaving the enclave, as these figures clearly demonstrate not only how the blockade has almost destroyed all possibility of exporting goods from the Gaza Strip, but also how various restrictions similarly limited export prior to the blockade in 2007:181 18000 16000 15255 15137 14000 12000 10000 8000 9676 9408 9319 7869 5290 5183 6000 4000 2000 0 33 42 215 268 254 182 136 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total Truckloads per Year: Exports 179 UN News Centre, “Gaza Could Become Uninhabitable In Less Than Five Years Due To Ongoing ‘Dedevelopment’ – UN Report”, 1 September 2015. Available at: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story. asp?NewsID=51770#.VhIUkPmqpBc 180 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), “Report on UNCTAD assistance to the Palestinian people: Developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, UNCTAD, 6 July 2015, page 12. Available at: http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/tdb62d3_en.pdf 181 The chart is based on data from OCHA – Occupied Palestinian Territories, “Gaza Crossing Activities Database”, 31 August 2015. Available at: www.ochaopt.org/dbs/crossings/commodityreports. aspx?id=1010003 50

Select target paragraph3