Geneva - The suffocating impact of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, in place for more than 11 years, was called to the attention of the UN Human Rights Council this week in a joint oral statement delivered by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and Africa Culture International.

The blockade has deprived the more than 2 million residents of Gaza of basic needs, bringing them to the very brink of survival, with about 80 percent of the population depending on international aid, said Rimal Saed of the Euro-Med Monitor.

Israeli authorities have intensified their blockade on Gaza in recent weeks, severely limiting traffic through both commercial and non-commercial crossings, depriving residents of electricity and fuel, and preventing fishermen from earning a living, stated Saed.

Three years after Israel’s brutal Operation Protective Edge in 2014, only about half of pledged aid has been received by the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (the process set up to funnel relief funds into the Strip), and most infrastructure is still out of service.

The prolonged silence of the international community regarding the blockade on Gaza makes it complicit in the crime, undermining justice and international values.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and Africa Culture International called on the Human Rights Council and its member states to take serious steps to bring the blockade on Gaza to an end, in line with its earlier resolutions. In addition, both organizations called for collaboration among all parties to end the long-lasting occupation of the Palestinian territories.