GAZA, (PIC)-- The popular committee against the siege reported that the daily average per capita income in the Gaza Strip is estimated at two US dollars, pointing out that as a result of the Israeli siege the unemployment rate reached 70 percent while the poverty rate rose to 80 percent.

The committee underlined that more than one million Palestinians in Gaza live on the modest assistance provided by the UNRWA and FAO in addition to other Arab and Islamic charitable organizations.

The committee said that 60 percent of Gaza children suffer from diseases caused by malnutrition and 70 percent of the population obtains water for eight hours every two days a week, adding that the power cuts lasts for eight hours a day and sometimes more than that.

The committee also pointed out that the 140,000 Palestinian workers in Gaza joined the unemployment line and 3,900 factories, workshops and stores were shut down which resulted in economic losses estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars since the beginning of the Israeli siege.