Palestinians protest high unemployment in Gaza

Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated high unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, which has been reeling under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.

Protesters called on local authorities and the Ramallah-based Ministry of Labor to intervene to create jobs for jobless Palestinians in the seaside enclave.

"Today, poor families in Gaza are coming out to raise their voices in the face of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the international community," Talal Abu Zarifa, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which organized the rally, told Anadolu Agency.

“We tell the PA that you have to correct your policy and put an end to the division that has turned the Gaza Strip into a disaster zone in conjunction with the [Israeli] blockade."

Abu Zarifa went on to decry the “continued silence of the international community” towards the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Last month, the World Bank warned that the Gaza economy was in “free fall”, calling on Israel and the international community to take immediate actions to avoid “immediate collapse” in the Palestinian territory.

According to the bank, the unemployment is now over 50 percent – and over 70 percent among Gaza's youth.

Israel has imposed a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip after Palestinian group Hamas seized control of the strip from rival Fatah group.

In October, Hamas and Fatah -- Palestine’s two main political factions -- signed a landmark reconciliation agreement in Cairo aimed at ending their bitter division. However, the reconciliation agreement has failed to bear fruit due to ongoing differences between the two factions.