A/HRC/10/22 page 10 have had on the infrastructure and the economy have pushed even more people below the poverty line. Poverty has been a long-standing concern in Gaza. Even prior to the recent conflict, 78.9 per cent of Gaza residents were already living below the official poverty line.18 The recent conflict, the occupation and the 19-month blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza have exasperated this situation and had a devastating effect on the economy and the infrastructure and a profound pervasive impact on the lives of Palestinian people, particularly the poor. 27. While the blockade is the primary cause of poverty in Gaza, the situation has been further exacerbated by the limitation of aid in 2006, insufficient access for humanitarian organizations and the deterioration of the internal security situation owing to the escalation of intra-Palestinian violence. A full assessment is still under way. However, there is no doubt that the three-week military offensive by Israel has compounded the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people and led to a range of human rights violations. 28. The military operation launched by Israel on 27 December 2008 has not only forced more people into a life of poverty, but also exacerbated the miserable situation of those already living in poverty by creating a need for urgent, massive humanitarian efforts to secure basic rights and minimum standards of living. The almost complete dependency on external aid and reliance on the informal market has further exposed the population to political manipulation affecting the poor disproportionately. 29. The independent expert expresses her grave concern at the fact that poverty in Gaza is a direct consequence of systematic violations of a wide range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights against Gazan residents, and that poverty in Gaza has also led to specific violations of human rights. Many of these violations are described in other sections of the present report and all are relevant to assessing the situation of the poor. In particular, the poor have suffered greatly from violations of the right to education, food, housing and health, which are described below in detail by other mandate-holders. 1. Cumulative and increasing destruction of livelihoods in Gaza 30. Reports received by the independent expert reveal that, over the years, the damage that the blockade and military incursions by Israel has inflicted upon the land, the environment and industrial infrastructure in Gaza has led to an escalation in unemployment and undermined the ability of the Palestinian people to find basic means of subsistence. The World Bank estimates that 98 per cent of Gazan industrial operations were inactive as a result of the closures. Up to 70,000 workers are reported to have lost their jobs since 2007.19 In December 2008, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that 18 months of closures had caused 18 The official poverty threshold is $2.3 per person per day; see World Bank, Palestinian Economic Prospects: Aid, Access and Reform, 22 September 2008. The figure was recorded in 2007; no figures were available for 2008. 19 Ibid.