Israeli news portal Walla has reported, citing high-ranking US and Israeli officials, that negotiations between Israel, Egypt and the United States to open the Rafah crossing have stalled due to Israel's refusal to allow Palestine to operate the site in any way.
"The Palestinian position is clear: readiness to work at the Rafah checkpoint in the south of the Gaza Strip in accordance with the agreement concluded in 2005 in the presence of international observers, so that this is in the interests of our people and subject to the withdrawal of the occupying Israeli forces," the minister said.
Sky-Rocketing Unemployment in the Gaza Strip
Unemployment has risen to 75% in the Gaza Strip and to 32% in the West Bank since the beginning of the Israeli military operation in the Palestinian enclave in October last year, the Palestinian Authority's Minister for National Economy, Mohammed Al-Amour, told Sputnik.
"The economic activity has been disrupted by a decline in cash receipts due to the appropriation of Palestine's tax revenues by the Israeli side, as well as due to the loss of about half a million jobs since last October. Unemployment has now risen to 32% in the West Bank and 75% in the Gaza Strip," the minister said.
Israeli attacks have left 37,000 people dead, 85,000 wounded, and all infrastructure nearly leveled, according to Gaza officials.