Photo Credit: Asher Schwartz

(JNi.media) Israel once again accuses Hamas of using building materials intended for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip to dig offensive tunnels. Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) General Yoav Mordechai told the independent Palestinian news agency Ma’an that Hamas forcibly took control of warehouses of building materials and confiscated the contents to serve the needs of the organization.

Mordechai also denied that negotiations with Hamas are being conducted, directly or indirectly. Sources in Gaza on Wednesday morning told Arab newspaper “Al-Arabi Al-Jadid” that the talks that were being held by former International quartet envoy Tony Blair to stabilize the truce in the Gaza Strip are deadlocked.

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In early July, a joint Shin Bet and Israeli police operation led to the arrest of Ibrahim A’adel Shahada Shaer, a senior Hamas member who was directly involved in plotting tunnel attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip. He confessed to full involvement in the planning of the restored terror tunnel network in the Gaza Strip over the past months, specifically, a plan involving a terror tunnel leading from Rafah to the Kerem Shalom Crossing. He also acknowledged the construction of a road which is being paved by Hamas adjacent to the border, to be used in executing surprise attacks against Israel.

Meanwhile, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) annual report says Socio-economic conditions in Gaza today are “at their lowest point since 1967,” when Israel captured the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War. Unemployment in Gaza soared last year to 44 percent — the highest level on record — hitting young women especially hard, leaving more than eight out of 10 women out of work, according to the report. A full 72 percent of all households in Gaza are struggling with food insecurity, and the number of Palestinian refugees who rely entirely on food distribution from UN agency has ballooned from 72,000 in 2000 to 868,000 last May.

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