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Israeli raids on Gaza severely damage the industrial sector
Noor Harazeen
02:39

As military hostilities in Gaza between Palestinian factions and Israel escalated, the number of places targeted by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip increased. The bombings affected the operations of Palestinian companies, forcing most of them to stop working and causing further unemployment in Gaza, where the jobless rate was 48 percent before the outbreak of the conflict.

As Thursday ended, a fire in the industrial zone called "PADICO," which includes dozens of Palestinian factories east of Gaza City, was visible from afar. A number of artillery shells fired by Israeli tanks on the eastern borders of Gaza City landed in the industrial complex.

Ali al-Hayek, head of the Palestinian Businessmen Association, told CGTN that Israel's targeting of Palestinian factories clearly indicated its intention to destroy Palestinian industrial infrastructure, "Israel wants, by weakening the Palestinian industrial sector, to enhance the Palestinians economic dependence on Israel and weaken any opportunities for the development of the already weak Palestinian economy." Al-Hayek said.

MASHAREQ, the largest advertising company in Gaza and home to a large number of Palestinian artists, creative and young talents, was reduced to rubble by missiles fired by Israeli warplanes, as Mahmoud Al-Haddad, the director of the company, looked on with sorrow and pain.

MASHAREQ company building that was destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City. May 20, 2021. /CGTN

MASHAREQ company building that was destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City. May 20, 2021. /CGTN

"The losses sustained by our company due to the bombing were very large, estimated at more than $2 million," Al-Haddad told CGTN. "We lost everything in the company's warehouse in addition to all of our printing machines. The company's studios have also been destroyed. We have more than 60 employees working here, and now all of them are unemployed. They lost their livelihoods."

The Palestinian ministry of national economy held a press conference to express anger at the Israeli attacks on the industrial sector in Gaza, where Raed Al-Jazzar, the ministry's director of industry, affirmed that Israel aims to destroy the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip, and thus destroy the local development process. 

"We cannot count all the damage to the factories because our engineers and technicians are not able to reach all the targeted industrial facilities," Al-Jazzar said. "There are factories that have been severely destroyed, and it may take months, or even years, to return to normal production."

Muhammad al-Talathini, who runs a coffee factory, told the CGTN that he was surprised by a call from the Israeli army to inform him that they would target the factory. "This place is the only source of livelihood for myself and more than 30 workers here. I don't know why they decided to bomb our factory and what damage our factory did to Israel. It is our place of work and our livelihood here."

Economists say Gaza's economy will take years to recover from the effects of the devastating strikes, which by Thursday had left thousands of homes and factories and thousands of acres of farmland in ruins due to Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes.

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