A/HRC/44/60 the closure.96 In 2016, during his last visit to Gaza, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon said that: “The closure of Gaza suffocates its people, stifles its economy and impedes reconstruction efforts. It is a collective punishment for which there must be accountability.” 97 The 2019 report of the UN Commission of Inquiry reported that the “blockade has had a devastating impact on Gaza’s socio-economic situation and on the human rights of people living there”, and recommended the immediate lifting of the blockade.98 Ending the closure has also been a demand of the European Union99 and the European Parliament.100 60. The Special Rapporteur finds that the actions of Israel towards the protected population of Gaza amount to collective punishment under international law. The two million Palestinians of Gaza are not responsible for the deeds of Hamas and other militant groups, yet they have endured a substantial share of the punishment, intentionally so. Israel appears content to allow for the delivery of basic humanitarian requirements to Gaza (provided largely through international aid), but to then turn the spigot of any additional modest assistance or economy activity off and on depending on the circumstances. Israel is reminded that it is required under the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure, “to the fullest extent of the means available to it”, that food and medical supplies are provided to the population.101 61. The extreme hardships imposed on the Palestinians in Gaza by the closure can be measured in three areas. Economically, Gaza continues to steadily de-develop. Its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita has declined by 30 percent from $1,880 (US) in 2012 to $1,410 in 2019/20. Its unemployment rate has increased from 30.8 percent in 2012 to 46 percent this past year, among the highest in the world. The percentage of energy demand met has tumbled from 60 percent in 2012 to 41.7 percent in 2019-20. 102 Virtually the only economic pulse that Gaza still has is the result of external aid and remittance transfers, which made up close to 100 percent of its economy in 2014, and have been declining in volume since 2017. 62. Israel unilaterally imposed restrictions on the import of dual-use goods to the Palestinian territory since 1976 for stated security reasons. In recent years, it has significantly broadened its application of this policy. As of 2018, there are 56 restricted items – including fertilizers, pesticides and chemicals – which are applied to both Gaza and the West Bank, but an additional 62 items – such as reinforced steel, cement, aggregates, insulating panels and timber for furniture manufacturing – are applied to Gaza only. 103 The World Bank has deemed Israel’s dual-use approval system to be opaque and cumbersome, noting that “the items are added to and deleted from the lists in response to Palestinian political and security changes make these lists function more as economic sanctions than as a necessary security process.” 104 Gaza’s economy, the Bank has said, will never revive without a significant easing of the restrictions on the movement of goods and people.105 63. The fishing and agriculture industries in Gaza – both of which were once thriving labour-intensive industries – are prime examples of the severity of Israel’s closure regime. The Oslo Accords entitled Palestinians to fish within 20 nautical miles off-shore, but the reality over much of the past 10 years has been a constricted fishing zone of 3 to 6 nautical 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/update/palestine-update-140610.htm. https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/press-encounter/2016-06-28/secretary-generals-remarks-pressencounter. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session40/Documents /A_HRC_40_74_CRP2.pdf, paras. 193, 797. https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/42323/statement-hrvp-federicamogherini-following-yesterdays-events-gaza_en. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2018-0176_EN.html?redirect. Fourth Geneva Convention, Articles 55 & 56. https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/paper-ad-hoc-liaison-committee-2-june2020-office-united, Table 1. The GDP per capita figures are in constant 2015 dollars. http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/942481555340123420/pdf/Economic-MonitoringReport-to-the-Ad-Hoc-Liaison-Committee.pdf. https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/29057, p. 29. http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/413851537281565349/pdf/129986-REVISED-WorldBank-Sept-2018-AHLC-Report-final.pdf. 15