GAZA, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Although markets in the Gaza Strip have been full of goods three days before Ramadan, the fasting month, prosperity still seems absent in the coastal enclave as the goods prices are relatively lower than the previous years, merchants said Thursday.
The limit purchasing in the markets comes as both the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) government in the West Bank and the deposed government of Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, are going through a severe financial crisis, which led them to delay the payment for their employees' salaries.
Fua'ad Selmi, who owns a grocery store in downtown Gaza City, told Xinhua that all what he is concerned about in this year's Ramadan "is to market the biggest amounts of goods and products that the Gaza Strip population usually use in Ramadan."
At the front door of his store, Selmi presented the most important kinds of products, such as flours, oils and various cheeses, while other kinds of foods that are used during Ramadan, such as dried fruits, dates and sweets, were hidden inside the store.
"People here are not thinking about buying things needed in Ramadan products such as dried fruits, dates or deserts. Their priority is to buy basic foods such as flours and oils," said Selmi, "They just want to feed their children due to the current financial doldrums."
Economic experts said the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized control of the area by force four years ago has helped to turn the enclave into a huge consumer market. After last year's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, Israel has partly relaxed the blockade and allowed various foods and soft drinks in.
However, Abu Yazzan, a 29-year-old employee of the PNA who lives in Gaza, said he and his colleagues can see the grocery stores and supermarkets in Gaza full of various foods and drinks, but "it is not a matter of (whether there are) different kinds of products we have in Gaza, the matter is that there is no income."
Despite the lift of blockade, Israeli still bans raw materials used in construction, industry and agriculture to enter Gaza, which has raised unemployment rate in the area and made it a fact that the vast majority of the population can not afford many kinds of food products and drinks.
The financial crisis the PNA is passing through, due to the donors' failure in fulfilling their pledges, has forced the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to pay half of the salaries of its 70,000 employees and civil servants in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The situation of the PNA employees is no different from another 40,000 employees who are getting their monthly salaries paid by the de facto government of Hamas. The Hamas government has just paid two-thirds of its employees' salaries of June.
Medhat Sersawi, an employee in the Hamas government complained that he does not have enough money to buy what his family need for Ramadan. He expressed outrage that the financial situation in the Palestinian territories is deteriorating.
Economic experts blamed the limit commercial movements in the Gaza Strip on the deterioration in the economic situation and the spread of poverty and unemployment.
Economic expert Omer Shaaban told Xinhua that the situation in the Gaza Strip during this year's Ramadan "is getting more difficult due to the current financial crisis as well as the commercial doldrums."
Chamber of Commerce Chief Maher Taba'a told Xinhua that Israel' s relaxation of the siege was not enough.
"The Israeli relaxations of the siege as well as fulfilling the Gaza Strip markets with various kinds of foods and drinks had turned the enclave into a large consuming market," said Taba'a, adding that "the siege had influenced the process of exports of Gaza products and import of raw materials."
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