The executive body of the League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds called on international parliaments to take urgent action to lift the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, 16 years ago.

During its periodic meeting at the league's headquarters in Istanbul, the executive body stated that it is about to launch a parliamentary campaign to demand the lifting of the blockade on Gaza, stressing that the blockade is in violation of international laws and has humanitarian consequences and has contributed to the deterioration of living conditions in the Strip over the years.

It indicated that the Palestinian Legislative Council sent a distress call as a result of the deterioration of the humanitarian and living conditions due to the blockade, calling on parliamentarians to raise the file of the blockade in their parliaments and with their governments and to move to lift it.

The executive body added that the occupation has turned the Strip into a geographical area unfit for life, lacking the basic human ingredients, pointing to the serious repercussions of the continuation of the blockade on the human, economic, social and health reality, and the high rates of unemployment, poverty and food insecurity to unprecedented levels.

And it appealed to the international community for urgent intervention to end the blockade and not to continue the policy of collective punishment imposed by the occupation on the residents of the Strip.

The Israeli occupation has imposed a tight land, sea and air blockade on Gaza since 2006 on the Strip, where half of its population suffers from unemployment and the majority of them are young people.

The Israeli occupation launched 4 bloody wars against the Strip since 2008, the last of which was in May last year and lasted for 11 days, resulting in the death of about 266 Palestinians, including 66 children, 39 women and 17 elderly.

The occupation prevents 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Strip from traveling through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, which is the only crossing designated for the movement of individuals from the Strip and the 1948 lands.