A/HRC/34/36 unemployment (41.7 per cent), 41 especially among young people as a whole (57.6 per cent)42 and young women in particular (82 per cent). 43 Nearly 40 per cent of Gazans live below the poverty line, and 47 per cent of households are moderately to severely food insecure.44 37. While there has been some improvement in the levels of exports and imports since 2014, they remain much lower than the pre-blockade levels. Some 65,000 Palestinians, whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged during the 2014 hostilities, remain displaced as a result of continued restrictions on the entry of building materials and lack of international funding.45 38. During the reporting period, there was a significant deterioration in the movement of people from and to Gaza through Erez — the only crossing point for people to Israel, the West Bank and beyond. The situation was further exacerbated by the almost continuous closure by Egypt of the Rafah passenger crossing and by Jordan’s increasing refusal to grant passage through the Allenby crossing to Palestinians from Gaza. 39. Exit from Gaza through Erez is only permitted for Palestinian nationals on the basis of a narrow set of criteria. Even as the total number of exit permits issued for travel from Gaza through Erez reportedly increased,46 the actual number of people exiting Gaza through the crossing declined by 15 per cent in the first half of 2016. By the end of October, the monthly average exit rate reached its lowest level in almost two years.47 Israeli authorities tend not to provide reasons to justify the refusals. In rare cases, applicants are informed that refusals were made on “security grounds”. 40. For medical patients seeking treatment outside Gaza, only 70 per cent of applications for access through Erez were approved on average during 2016. This was the lowest approval rate since June 2009. 48 Between January and September 2016, Israeli authorities also revoked nearly half of the 3,500-3,700 permits previously granted to Palestinian merchants and traders.49 41. Palestinian authorities are also affected by these restrictions. In October 2016, Israeli authorities reportedly revoked the exit permits of 12 senior officials from the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, resulting in nearly all the employees of the institution being banned from travel despite their key role in coordinating movement through Israeli crossings.50 42. Human rights defenders have complained to OHCHR about restrictions imposed on their movement through Erez. Since March 2016, a 52-year-old woman human rights 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 See www.pcbs.gov.ps/portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/Press_En_LFSQ22016E.pdf. See http://gisha.org/updates/5483. See www.worldbank.org/en/country/westbankandgaza/publication/economic-monitoring-report-tothe-ad-hoc-liaison-committee-september-2016. See www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-two-years-2014-hostilities-august-2016. See www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-crossings-operations-status-monthly-update-september-2016. Figures provided by the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, October 2016. See www.ochaopt.org/content/decline-number-palestinians-leaving-gaza-including-humanitarianstaff-and-patients, and Gaza Crossings database of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. See World Health Organization monthly reports on referral of patients from the Gaza Strip for the period November 2015-October 2016, available from www.emro.who.int/pse/publicationswho/monthly-referral-reports.html. See http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/publications/Security_blocks/Security_blocks_factsheet_designed.pdf. See http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773634. 9