Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israel's easing of an economic blockade on the Gaza Strip earlier this year has had a "limited effect" and done little to improve the lives of Palestinians, according to a joint report released Tuesday by a group of international aid and human rights organizations.
"Israel's failure to live up to its commitments and the lack of international action to lift the blockade are depriving Palestinians in Gaza of access to clean water, electricity, jobs and a peaceful future," said Jeremy Hobbs, director of Oxfam International, one of the 22 groups that signed the report entitled "Dashed Hopes: Continuation of the Gaza blockade".
"Only a fraction of the aid needed has made it to the civilians trapped in Gaza by the blockade," Hobbs added.
Gaza has been subjected to an Israeli and Egyptian economic blockade since the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. The blockade severely limited the types and quantities of goods that could be imported into Gaza and barred almost all exports from the coastal strip of approximately 1.5 million Palestinians.
Following an Israeli raid this past summer on an aid ship bound for Gaza in which nine people were killed, Israel pledged to ease restrictions on Gaza. CNN
