Dozens of factories in Gaza Industrial Estate destroyed in the Israeli bombings – Investment Promotion Agency

RAMALLAH: The Investment Promotion and Industrial Estates Agency (IPIEA) said today that the Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip completely or partially destroyed dozens of factories in the Gaza Industrial Estate (GIE) while the project to generate electricity from solar energy lost between 40 to 50% of its production capacity due to attacks. The Israeli bombing destroyed the IPIEA administrative building, as well as the civil defense department in the GIE, in addition to the outbreak of large fires in many industrial facilities, especially those containing chemicals and highly flammable materials, such as the cleaning, food products, beverages, plastics, furniture, and cosmetics factories. IPIEA said the GIE, established in 1997 with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is one of the largest industrial estate projects implemented by the government through the IPIEA. It includes 72 factories in various industrial sectors, including sewing, weaving, food industries, b everage and juice industries, plastic and wood industries, pharmaceutical industries, and cleaning detergents, in addition to commercial and international companies. It provides more than 6,400 daily jobs, directly or indirectly, and is built on a total area of 480 dunums to the east of Gaza City. The IPIEA accused the Israeli occupation authority of deliberately destroying the industrial estate city, which is the backbone of the largest industry in Gaza City, especially since it plays an important role in production, employment and investment. It said that this is a preliminary assessment and that the difficulty of the situation on the ground prevents a complete assessment of damages and losses. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA