11/05/2016
Gaza Strip - Rising poverty in the besieged Gaza Strip is forcing residents to sell their valuables in order to feed their families. In recent months, the gold market in Gaza's old city has seen a steady flow of people selling their family gold in order to buy essentials.
"Life is very difficult because of the occupation. It's so expensive. I have eight children and it is hard to provide for the family," 47-year-old Zuhair Zuhair told Al Jazeera as he waited to sell a ring and necklace.
"We have two or three pieces left to sell, after that I will have to send my children to the street to sell ci******es to bring some money."
In August 2014, the World Bank recorded 39 percent of Gazans living in poverty on an income of less than $1.25 per day. Senior staff at Gaza's Ministry of Economy and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees told Al Jazeera that incidents of poverty had reached 50 percent.
Zuhair said he would use the expected $1,000 in proceeds to buy food and items for his children. In better times, he traded refrigerators and washing machines, but he said no one had bought anything for months.
After eight years of blockade by Israel, three devastating Israeli wars on the strip in the past six years, restrictions imposed by the Egyptian government and the closure of tunnels from Egypt, Gaza's economy has ground to a halt.
"Now there is no work and no jobs for young people. It is difficult for young men to marry because there is no way to provide for a family," Zuhair said.
"The international community think they are punishing Hamas by supporting Israel's blockade, but it is the people who are suffering - and the people aren't Hamas."
The covered row of jewellery stores on Omar Mukhtar Street, adjacent to the Grand Mosque, still bustles with people despite the increasingly dire circumstances faced by Gaza's 1.8 million residents.
"The people selling are usually very poor, and looking to sell small pieces, or they are newly married couples selling gold given to them at their weddings," explained Mohammad Fahid, owner of the Hak Fahid jewellery store.
Around 70 people arrive each day to sell, according to Rafiq Issa Iyad, a third-generation dealer whose shop is located at the market's entrance. "We don't sell much now," the 74-year-old shrugged. "Now people here are very poor and getting poorer. The few rich people are getting very rich, but there's nothing in the middle."