Unless blockade ends, Gaza faces years of misery: U.N.

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Unless blockade ends, Gaza faces years of misery: U.N.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Unless negotiations to end the Gaza war succeed in lifting a blockade of the territory, Gazans will not see any improvement in their lives for at least another 15 years, the head of a U.N. relief agency said on Monday. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are in Egypt trying to secure a permanent ceasefire after a month of fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip destroyed whole neighborhoods and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. One of the core demands of the Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza, is the end to a long-running, Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the enclave that has stymied the economy and slowed or prevented the import of even basic building materials. "The question will be, is it a ceasefire that brings us simply back to the pre-existing condition under the blockade?" Pierre Krahenbuhl, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said in an interview.

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