Report: Gaza could be uninhabitable in 5 years

There could soon be no more Gaza Strip if conditions don't turn around very quickly. A recent U.N. report has found that economic conditions in Gaza are so bad that the entire region could be "uninhabitable" by 2020.

A stretch of Palestine wedged between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea, the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated regions of the world with 1.8 million residents living in a mere 225 square miles of land. But after three conflicts with Israel and an almost decade-long blockade, Gaza now has an almost post-apocalyptic feel.

Its unemployment rate is 44 percent and its GDP dropped 15 percent last year. Seventy-two percent of households are food insecure and over 95 percent of its main source of water is said to be non-potable. Its electricity production can't cover even 40 percent of demand.

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The report faults the Israeli blockade for impoverishing the population. It also cited the 2014 war with Israel that left 73 Israelis and 2,200 Palestinians dead for wrecking Gaza's economy and destroying much of its infrastructure. More than 20,000 Palestinian homes and numerous schools, hospitals, and factories were ruined in the conflict.

"The humanitarian catastrophe is man-made," the deputy director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights told Al Jazeera. "The answer is only through our man-made policies."