Gaza, Alray - Al Qassam website- Gaza- Palestinian Chamber of Commerce in the Gaza Strip warned that the sudden closure of tunnels between Gaza and Egypt without opening the commercial crossings and without allowing entry of all types of goods into Gaza, tightening the blockade on Gaza.

It pointed out that the closure of tunnels "is causing heavy economic losses, especially in the construction sector, which depends entirely on the entry of construction materials and supplies through the tunnels as the Israeli side has been preventing their entry through the official crossings."

The Egyptian military have continued to demolish the tunnels established by the Palestinians for smuggling the basic materials into Gaza.

These tunnels have helped over the years people in Gaza  to overcome the blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation forces since 2007.

Dr. Maher Tabaa, director of public relations at the Chamber of Commerce in the Gaza Strip, said  that the  unemployment and poverty rates increased noticeably  after closing the life line tunnels.

" Unemployment rates in the early years of the blockade exceeded 40% while the number of unemployed hit 170 thousand people," he said.

Tabaa said that the  several Palestinian economy  sectors suffers great  losses such as  production, investment, foreign trade, agriculture and industry, and this has doubled the economic, social, health and psychological problems.

He noted that two months after the siege the Israeli government decided to consider  Gaza Strip  a hostile entity and  to take a series of actions  to tighten the siege.

He added that due to the blockade unemployment rates in the early years of the blockade exceeded 40% while the number of unemployed hit 170 thousand people.