A/HRC/28/74 38. During the 52 days of fighting in July and August 2014, Israeli bombs destroyed or severely damaged more than 53,000 houses in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing blockade violates the social, economic and cultural rights of the people suffering from the unilateral sanctions. Undernourishment is rampant, especially among children. Tens of thousands of families live in the ruins of their houses or in unheated containers furnished by the local authorities. In December 2014, the death from cold of a number of children under the age of 10 was reported to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. 39. According to numerous reports of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, the lack of clean drinking water in the Gaza Strip has caused kidney disease to spread, affecting severely the health of hundreds of thousands of people. E. Impact of unilateral coercive measures on third States: the case of Pakistan 40. More recently, unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran, which have been revised and enforced over time, have negatively affected non-targeted neighbouring States, such as Pakistan, by blocking a gas pipeline project critical for Pakistan to overcome its grave energy crisis.41 Industrial development in Pakistan has in fact been depressed since industries highly dependent on electricity and gas began to face supply shortfalls. The result has been a rising unemployment rate in a predominantly young population, with severe consequences for the economy and society, and most importantly the individuals affected. Moreover, endemic load-shedding across the country lasting up to 18 hours daily has led to violence in the form of frequent energy riots.42 The energy crisis is thus hindering the progressive realization of the socioeconomic rights of the citizens of Pakistan in addition to compromising their rights to security of life and property. 41. To meet its energy shortages, the Government of Pakistan signed a multi-billion dollar agreement for the supply of 750 million cubic feet of gas per day, extendable to one billion cubic feet gas per day, through a pipeline from the Islamic Republic of Iran. 43 This would ease the gas deficit in the country to a reasonable level and help to curb rising inflation. The gas pipeline project, however, came to a halt as a direct consequence of the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States of America on the Islamic Republic of Iran.44 Failure to complete the project within the stipulated time frame would make Pakistan liable for $3 million a day in penalties. Significantly, a State already burdened with international and local loans could hardly afford such additional financial burdens. 42. Failure to complete the project would clearly have an adverse impact on the human rights of citizens of Pakistan, including, inter alia, their rights to life, food, health, development, education and employment, as well as national socioeconomic growth. These 41 42 43 44 12 Ahmed Faraz Khan, “Power shortage leads to 12–18 hours of loadshedding”, Dawn, 11 April 2014. See “Power riots: Wapda Complex attacked for loadshedding”, Express Tribune, 9 April 2013, and “Another day of outrage at outages across Punjab”, Dawn, 18 June 2012. Zafar Butta, “IPgas pipeline: Iran wants assurance that Pakistan is ‘all in’”, Express Tribune, 25 November 2013. Although under United States law the sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran have been in place for longer, the Iranian entity with whom the Inter-State Gas System of Pakistan entered into the gas purchase agreement was specifically sanctioned on 24 September 2012, that is, after Pakistan had signed the agreement. Thereafter, Pakistan has expressed reservations at the impact of sanctions on the project. See “Pakistan may face sanctions over gas pipeline with Iran: US”, Times of India, 4 October 2013.