‘The Gaza Strip is reportedly grappling with a deteriorating economic situation and a rising jobless rate because of the Israeli blockade and Egypt’s crackdown on the supply tunnels leading into the Palestinian land.

According to recent figures released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in the coastal enclave jumped to 38 percent at the end of 2013, up from 32 percent in the third quarter of the same year.

The Palestinian territory has been under Israeli illegal siege since 2007, a situation that has made its residents desperately dependent on goods coming through the tunnels.’

Read more: Israel-Egypt siege worsening Gaza economic woes