By Sultan Cogalan

ANKARA

Turkey’s international development agency, TIKA, has provided 200 Palestinian families in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip with lighting systems.

Due to electricity shortage in Gaza, TIKA provided basic lighting LED systems to families who cannot afford owning electricity generators, according to a TIKA statement.

For around 10 years, the Gaza Strip, home of nearly two million people, has been witnessing power cuts for more than 12 hours on daily basis.

Since 2007, the Palestinian territory has groaned under a crippling Israeli blockade that has deprived its inhabitants of most basic commodities, including food, fuel, medicines and building supplies.

According to a 2015 World Bank report, the nearly decade-long blockade has cut Gaza’s gross domestic product in half and led to one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has described the blockade -- first imposed after resistance movement Hamas swept 2006 Palestinian polls -- as "collective punishment".