Poverty pushing people into Hamas militia

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem The Hamas de facto government is one of the only employers in Gaza with a growing payroll, after a record slump resulting from the Israeli blockade imposed when the Islamic faction took control a year ago. This emerges from a new UN report showing that more than an unprecedented 52 per cent of Gaza households have now plunged below the internationally-designated poverty line despite continued humanitarian assistance, while unemployment has reached 45 per cent for the first time. The report, from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), contrasts the more than half of households in Gaza living in poverty with the 19 per cent living in poverty in the West Bank, thanks to the lifting of the Israeli and international embargo on the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority last summer. Poverty means a... [read full story]