UN survey highlights difficult conditions for families in Gaza

More than 80 percent of Palestinian families borrowed money to get by in 2015, and over 40 percent have decreased their consumption of food, a UN spokesman said here Monday at a daily news briefing.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory released the findings of an unprecedented survey of Palestinian families internally displaced in the Gaza Strip, due to the 2014 escalation of hostilities.

According to the survey, "nearly half fear being evicted from their accommodation," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"The situation of women and girls is of particular concern, with many families reporting living in conditions without safety, dignity and privacy, including in tents, makeshift shelters, destroyed houses, or outdoors," he added.

The late 2015 witnessed an outbreak of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. About 130 Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, while about 20 Israelis were killed in a series of shooting, stabbing and cars ramming attacks carried out by Palestinian youths.

Throughout 2015, there were no serious actions to resume the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which had been stalled since 2014. The talks lasted for nine months under the U.S. sponsorship, but it failed in early 2014, due to deep differences between the two sides over borders and settlement. Endit